April 3 stabbing at Royal Alexandra Hospital reminds us of the hazards faced daily by Alberta nurses

By Dewey Funk, UNA Occupational Health and Safety Advisor

The April 3 stabbing in the Emergency Department at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton brought to public attention hazards occurring daily in hospitals throughout Alberta.

There are long waits in overcrowded waiting rooms; frustrated, frightened and angry patients and family members; patients swearing at nurses, death threats and physical abuse; smuggled weapons, knives and even a fake hand grenade! 

On April 28, the World Day of Safety and Health at Work, known in Canada as the National Day of Mourning, UNA fights for the living and mourns for the dead. Every Occupational Health and Safety advisor – every worker – knows that legislation, policies and procedures that keep workers safe are written in the blood of working people.

Eight years ago in 2018, I attended a meeting at the Royal Alex at which UNA Local 33’s president reported that the hospital’s Emergency Department required a metal detector because so many weapons were being smuggled in. UNA had to advocate for designated security staff to be placed in the Emergency Department because of rising concerns of violence.

In 2023, UNA visited Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) to meet with the Ontario Nurses Association local, protective services and managers there, and to observe the hospital’s Evolve weapons detection system in operation. The system was brought in after three firearms were smuggled into the site. 

After that visit, UNA staff made a presentation about the Evolve Weapons Detection system to site management, Protected Services and Workplace Health and Safety staff at the Royal Alex. Facility leadership immediately threw up a hurdle, arguing that the system wasn’t foolproof and some weapons might get through. UNA argued that a better question was, “How many weapons won’t get through?”

Since then, the employer has adopted a voluntary disclosure policy. Protective Services asks members of the public coming into the Emergency Department if they have any weapons. The problem, of course, is that people don’t necessarily tell the truth and weapons continue to make it in. The violence keeps getting worse.

On April 3, a patient stabbed another patient. That patient had already gone through voluntary weapons screening.

Nurses and all health care workers in the department on that shift suffered psychological effects. Many were afraid to stay. Patients who needed health care were afraid to stay. 

So now is the time for decision makers to act to ensure the weapons detection system they have promised is installed immediately.

Workers at this site asked the CEO in 2025 for a two-year pilot of the weapons detection system. They are still waiting. This is a disgrace!

The current government has stated during Question Period that the decision to approve the weapons detection system was made a year ago. 

Likewise, it is shameful that no one in management or government has committed to ensuring the system is fully funded by the employer. 

Meanwhile, our neighbours in Saskatchewan have received notification that by January 20 this year metal detectors had already been installed in Saskatoon at the Emergency Departments in the Royal University Hospital/Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, and Saskatoon City Hospital; in Regina at the Regina General Hospital and Pasqua Hospital. In February, installation of metal detectors began at the Regina Urgent Care Centre, Prince Albert Victoria Hospital, and Battleford Union Hospital.

In Nova Scotia, NS Health announced last December that after a successful pilot it was expanding use of an AI-powered weapons detection system at a dozen sites across the province from Cape Breton in the northeast to Yarmouth in the southwest.

The units will be prioritized for Emergency Department entrances, with rollout expected to be completed in six months. Further expansion beyond that phase is under consideration.

The time has come for weapon detection systems to be placed in all Alberta Emergency Departments so patients, visitors and health care workers can feel safe – and be safe.

As a courageous UNA member wrote when no charges were laid by police after a member of the public threatened to shoot her: “I am deeply frustrated by how individuals can verbally and physically abuse my colleagues and me without facing consequences. It is disheartening to see the health-care system manipulated to serve everyone except those who provide the service.”

Emergency Departments across Alberta remain open thanks to the dedication of workers like that nurse. Our fractured health-care system is underfunded, short staffed, overcrowded, stressful, and dangerous. Despite this, every day, health care workers provide quality care for all Albertans who need it. 

UNA will continue to advocate for your right to the safe workplace you deserve!