hobbyenthusiast,
Safety is something we practice every day, beit driving our vehicles, walking across the street and so forth. Normally we don't worry about it, we pay attention to things and do what we can to stay out of harms way. RC is a great hobby, but not near as fun if you're worrying about it. Practice 'dry runs' on starting your engines, think about the movements you use or want to use to keep safe, how you're positioned in relation to the engine, and internalize those movements or procedures. Most importantly, if you're new to the game, get some training/assistance from someone experienced!! I strongly encourage that.

In another life I was an Airborne Ranger. The Ranger part was pretty cool but the Airborne part always scared the beegeebers out of me. I went on to High Altitude Freefall and later passed the JumpMaster course, but jumping still scared me. (of course I'd never show it). For me, worrying is a part of fear. I used that fear of jumping as a safety mechanism. Since I had been trained to have a set of internalized procedures regarding rigging, inspecting and so forth, my fear kind of re-enforced the notion of executing those steps properly. I made hundreds of jumps and jumpmastered hundreds more, without incident. Accidents can and will happen. But the odds can be greatly minimized by thinking through what you're doing, and you'll be okay. RC is one of the funnest things you can do with your pants on, so don't worry! Think safety, get some training or assistance if you need it, fire that baby up and have some fun!!!