I can relate to this story. I cast bare hands always myself and am guilty of it. I'm big on ventilation, a clean work area, absolutely no liquids stored on or around the table, wearing pants and boots, etc. I've got a cat that has learned to watch and wait to get into daddy's lap. She's smart and didn't learn the hard way fortunately. She will come up to me, look up and meow, and wait for me to back away from the table to pick her up. If I don't after a minute she leaves. However, people are dumber than animals and I'm hear to tell you. I have had to put up a colored safety rope between the doors so that people simply can't walk into my shop without asking. My buddy (who reloads also) walked in with his 13yr old daughter knowing well what I was doing and gave her a playful shove. She tipped and grabbed my 4x6 workbench for support. In front of me was a fresh batch of lead in a very full pot. I caught a crotch full of lead and ruined a good chair that day. Anger and a lot of words we quickly exchanged. Now there is the rope and a sign. I will get a welding apron soon also. I have had to also remove all of the extra chairs in the shop due to another buddy that sat down and plopped his feet up on my desk while I was casting. There is now a separate desk twelve to fifteen feet away from my work table for someone to sit and drink a soda and they must enter through a side door (herd the cattle). I'm glad that you weren't hurt badly in your incident. Be safe everyone.