More advanced EtherCAT setup questions

 
Now that I've got my basic setup running, I'm looking at the more detailed setup, and have a few questions.

How are people monitoring that all the EtherCAT devices are still connected?
I've been testing, and if I simply unplug a cable or power them off, no immediate fault is generated. LinuxCNC only finally disables when I try moving an axis due to a following error. Is there some form of pin available that will detect if a device(s) have lost communication?

Is anybody reading the status from drives during operation?
I know I could connect the drive error variable to a suitable HAL pin. but is anybody also reading the error code?

I know that the last two questions are probably as much GUI based, but I'd be grateful to any pointers on how these things can be implemented.

Most drives have an error output. What happens if you monitor that? Normally you would send it to joint.n.fault-in can't remember if its NO or NC.
But what about monitoring a normal stepper drive or a Mesa card. Isn't the same risk there?