I have just finished a bowl turning course; my first lathe work. The
instructor is very casual about safety; he says that is reasonable, since no
one ever get hurt on a lathe. I wonder how true that is.

I read through the website on woodworking injuries, and there aren't many
lathe injuries reported. The main problem seems to be the work breaking
apart at high speeds. Does that happen much?
A number of people recommended full face shields. I have one, but it is
pretty thin flexible plastic; I don't expect it would help much against a
high speed chunk of wood. I looked up a few websites (amazon, hartsville,
woodcraft) and they just sell ones like mine, except mine has a metal frame.
Is there something better, or is it strong enough?

I am the only person wearing a dust mask, and it gets pretty dirty after a
few hours.