Compare a barbell squat to a bodyweight pistol squat. What does a beginner hitting failure look like with either? For the pistol squat you can’t get up and just maybe fall over 1 foot onto your yoga mat, or just use your other leg to balance and stand. The barbell back squat failure is absolutely ugly in comparison. You are down and can’t get up, maybe you try and push anyway with your back vs legs, thats a lot of weight supported by an out of form spine now, ooff. Knowing how and when to safely bail and drop weight out of an olympic lift is not something any beginner would just naturally know to do.

The injury rate for powerlifting (sport that does squat + deadlift + bench press) is extremely low, and those who do that as a sport are probably lifting way, way more than almost everyone reading these comments ever will.

This is why there is such a thing as a power rack/squat rack. You can fail completely safely with this equipment.

If you are an olympic lifter, almost everyone is taught how to bail these lifts from the beginning with the empty bar. Most people aren't and lift in racks built just to be able to safely lift heavy. Its on you if you don't actually set up the safety bars for yourself.

Failing safely in a squat rack means you know how to bail from the weight in a way to not further injure yourself. Thats not immediately obvious, like learning to fall in other sports. I know people who were in athletics, using the school squat rack with a coach, and still ended up with injuries. Not everyone sees an olympic lifting coach before trying olympic lifts at the gym, probably a very small percentage actually do.

Any way that you fall, the pins will catch the bar before it lands on you. Failing safely, for the most part, only requires knowing how to set up the rack and safety pins properly.

Even barring that, the injury rate in squatting is quite low compared to most other sports and athletic activities of similar intensity.