I switched over to carrying modern (read, clipped) folders around 2004 after having carried a slip-joint/SAK/Buck in pocket for most of my adult life. I'm a carpenter and have had a knife clipped in pocket both on and away from the job pretty much every day since. I've had a knife pulled out of pocket once in all that time, noticed it gone almost immediately, and found it clipped to something waist height when I re-traced my steps.
I had one clip get snagged and bent in a crowded lunch place when I got jostled by someone and pushed up against a counter. The clip on my large Sebenza 21 CF got bent out at almost a right angle. I'd only had the knife a week or so and carried it around like a wounded bird until I got back to the truck. I took the clip off, re-bent it as best I could, but it just wasn't right, so I got a new one from CRK.
As far as general use of folding knives on the job, probably 90% of knife work falls to a retractable razor knife which is what every carpenter and most construction workers carry on them as one of the big three along with a hammer and tape. It just works better for cutting felt, plastic, house wrap, shingles, insulation, etc. You also don't beat the crap out of your EDC and save it for those tasks it's better at.
Besides the clip, I usually have a pretty decent-sized lanyard hanging out of my pocket and haven't run into issues with it snagging and pulling the knife out either. In a tight space, I'll drop the knife securely into a pocket bottom or leave it behind. Up North, in our woods and fields, I'll generally carry a less-expensive and brightly colored knife as snags seem much more likely there.
Aside from a true, second-carry beater for scraping, pulling staples, etc, all my work knives are mid-tech and up save for a couple BMKs and Spydies in my regular rotation. When I need a good knife, that's just what I want available.
Them's the breaks.
