STEVE WILKOS took a METAL BOWL to the face during some insanity on the set of his talk show . . . and thankfully, there's VIDEO.

(--If you don't recognize the name, Steve was the head security dude on "The Jerry Springer Show" . . . and now he has his own "Springer"-like talk show.)

A fight had broken out between Steve's guests . . . naturally . . . and while chaos was ensuing, someone threw a metal bowl.  It nailed Steve in the face, and knocked him over.  The guest wasn't trying to hit him . . . it was just an accident.

TMZ says the bowl hit him "just above the eye and he temporarily lost his vision, but ultimately, there was no serious injury."  However, he DOES have a "dent" where it hit him.

This went down during a segment called "My Daughter Tried to Poison Me."