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I do the majority of my workouts at home (mostly free weights) and usually do them without shoes. Aside from the obvious risk of dropping a weight on my foot, has anyone ever read that this is bad. Does it lead to bad technique or poor form?

If you don't have great ankle and/or foot stability, you can cause some musculoskeletal damage by exercising with bare feet. You'll need to be extra vigilant about maintaining a neutral arch in your foot. Search google for information on that.
I personally believe that it's great to exercise with bare feet. Most people have weakened feet due to constrictive shoes with no mobility. All kinds of problems can result from weak feet.
Hope this helps.

The main purpose of shoes is safety (and a little hygiene).

You can develop good balance by working out barefoot. Try it on squats, if you're brave.

Shoes even out your standing surface area, making you more stable. Wearing shoes will help you improve your concentration on upper body muscle groups, since you'll be thinking about your contraction and not so much about your balance.

It can be bad for you in many ways. Weight lifting without proper arch and stability support means your ankles, knees, hips and therefore your upper body will likely be out of alignment. That can lead to muscle imbalances. If the foundation isn't solid, it leads to cracks in the rest of the structure.

But really...once you've seen someone's toes cut off by a dumbell dropped on their bare foot you don't have to ask if there are any other reasons. I've seen it. I'll take shoes with my workout, thanks!

Question for SDtrainer. Do you ever have clients do workouts on the beach? I heard that running on the beach is good for you because it is easier on the knees and the other joints.Thanks!!

I can't imagine wearing shoes when I'm doing yoga or pilates. Some times I'll put them on for added weight when I'm using my pull up bar.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Based on your comments and some research I did online I have decided put my shoes on before I workout at home.

Depends what you're doing, but I do think that when working on balance and/or other functional movements, barefoot is the way to go. You gain much more proprioception thus making you much more stable.
When i work with clients i often make them take their shoes off. The shoes mask certain postural distortions like foot pronation.
Same thing goes with weight belts(false core) and gloves(hinder a true grip)
Take this into consideration... when we're born we're barefoot. Babies learn to move,stabilize and walk without shoes.

hope that helps

Aside from the obvious risks that you've made mention of it shouldn't be such a big issue unless you need orthotics to help leverage your feet better.

I used to do all quad workouts with no shoes. It was pretty good. Most shoes have a slight elevation under the heel and it's best to push with your heal than with the ball of your feet in order to really activate the quadriceps. That was the purpose of doing leg workouts this way as pushing on the ball of your feet or your toes doesn't seem to make the quad do all the work.