A couple of suggestions.

A less aggressive blade would probably reduce the chance of catching
the loose piece with one of those big honking teeth.

It will slow you down a bit, but one of the uses for those metal
plates at the back of the cutting surface is to clamp things to...

As someone else said, if you're cutting small pieces, you can always
just wait for the blade to stop.


I also find the plastic guard annoying (especially since I burned it
cutting steel tube with an abrasive blade and it's now opaque), but I
can sure see a blade catching on something someday and shattering at
5000 rpm, so I'm leaving it on. Safety glasses won't keep my ears
attached (that guard might not either, but it may slow things down). I
use the thumb of my right hand to hold it out of the way while I line
things up or if I'm using an abrasive blade (which I understand is
much more likely to shatter, but a lot less dangerous if it does).