I always wear gloves and eye protection whenever possible. I also find that I have better results when I take a single sided razor and cut out some of the rock as opposed to cutting just the polyp.You also have to be careful where you cut to lessen the damage to the mother colony. A lot of the polyps are a little sensitive to the glue, but not all. I have almost 100% success when I cut rock out with them but only about 80-85% when just gluing onto the polyp itself. They can sit out of the water for quite some time. Which is good because you have to give the glue time to dry. When the polyps close up they hold water inside of themselves. Use superglue gel, as dries mush faster and seems to hold better.
If you are needing help, you can bring it into me and I will be more than happy to show you my technique, and frag some off for you.
Justin