Winching-Cable danger

When I drove winches for the air cadets, we often had
problems with bits of cable flying about in the cab.
On the old Eagle winches there are 2 drums, one of
which is directly in front of the driver. If the cable
'threw a loop' then it would rattle against the totally
inadequate metal grille that was resting(not bolted)
over the drum. Occasionally the whole grille would
leap out at you! Some winches had perspex sheets fitted
to the grille, but every one I saw was damaged-usually
with a few fragments left clinging to the bolts that
held the perspex on.
No-one ever got injured as far as I'm aware, but it
was more luck than judgement.
It certainly scared the s*&% out of you when it happened!