Safe HarborAs if it weren't bad enough to have someone "go postal" at your workplace, you can be held liable for the injury and death.

Just after Christmas, a programmer at Edgewater Technology, anInternet consulting firm in Wakefield, Massachusetts, grabbed threeguns, strode down the hall and shot seven co-workers. Two weekslater, an angry convenience store owner in Houston showed up atAmko Trading, one of his wholesalers, and shot the couple who ownedit, their daughter and himself. All four died.

The scenario is frighteningly common. The Bureau of LaborStatistics reports more than 1,000 homicides in American workplacesoccurred from 1992 to 1996. During the same time period, accordingto the U.S. Department of Justice, 2 million American workers peryear were victimized while working. That in itself is worrisome foremployers, whether they become targets themselves or have to copewith repercussions and remorse if an employee or customer isinjured or killed. But then there's the legal side. Whenthere's violence in the workplace, employers can be held liablefor failing to screen job applicants carefully enough, failing torecognize problem employees and take action, or failing to maintainadequate security.