These days, just about anything can happen anywhere at any time. And by now, we should not be surprised by the violent acts of demented outcasts, who take out their frustrations on innocent bystanders and hapless colleagues.

 That’s why it’s not shocking a graduate student was killed last month at Yale University in what police are calling an instance of “workplace violence.”

The 24-year-old pharmacology student was last seen alive on September 8, the day she appeared in a surveillance video entering a four-story lab about 10 blocks from Yale’s campus. Her body was found inside a basement wall of the building on what was to have been her wedding day.

While the motive is still unclear, the New Haven police are treating it as the result of “workplace violence,” and have arrested a lab technician who worked in the same building as the victim.

To hear the police describe the killing, it almost sounded as though “workplace violence” was preferable to an act of domestic or random violence, and that it somehow couldn’t be avoided. This is far from the case.

While the number of workplace violence incidents is on the decline, they are still too common, and remain a serious safety and health issue. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), there were 564 workplace homicides in the U.S. in 2005, nearly 10 percent of a total of 5,702 fatal work injuries.

Averaging just under 800 per year, the largest number of homicides in one year (1,080) occurred in 1994, while the lowest number (540) occurred in 2006.

Yale University officials say the lab tech had nothing in his employment history that “gave an indication that his involvement in such a crime might be possible.”

“This incident could have happened in any city, in any university, or in any workplace. It says more about the dark side of the human soul than it does about the extent of security measures,” said Yale President Richard Levin. “Nevertheless, safety is a very high priority, and we will shortly be soliciting suggestions from the community about how we might further improve campus security.”

One place to start is to develop and reinforce a sound prevention plan that includes the following:

• Pre-employment screening that includes background and reference checks, and drug testing if appropriate.

• Maintaining a safe work place is part of any good prevention program. There are a variety of ways to help ensure safety, such as employee photo identification badges, guard services, and individual coded key cards for access to buildings and grounds.

• Different measures may be appropriate for different locations and work settings.

• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), a program that is most effective in resolving disputes when a conflict has been identified early and one of the following techniques is used: ombudspersons, facilitation, mediation, interest-based problem solving and peer review.

• Threat Assessment Team, an interdisciplinary unit that will work with management to assess the potential for workplace violence and, as appropriate, develop and execute a plan to address it. There’s more, too. To find information on workplace violence prevention, check out the following: www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/solutions.html, or www.cdc.gov/niosh/ topics/violence/.

Your employees should know that if they have concerns about a situation that may turn violent, they should alert their supervisor immediately and follow specific reporting procedures. It is better to err on the side of safety than to risk having a situation escalate. It may be too late for the Yale student, but it’s not for you the employees at your facility.

Thanks and good luck.