Weapons-screening system mulled for Edmonton hospital

Alberta Health Services is planning to try out new weapons detection equipment at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. CTV News Edmonton's Gates Guarin reports.

One of Edmonton’s hospitals could be the trial site for a weapons-screening system.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) is planning to use the Royal Alexandra Hospital for a pilot project using such technology.

The agency told CTV News Edmonton the two-year trial of the enhanced security measure would help reduce the number of weapons coming into the emergency department of the hospital north of downtown.

AHS said the Royal Alex was chosen for the pilot as its emergency department is one that “requires higher security needs.”

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It said the technology would enhance the verbal screening process the hospital already uses.

Hospitals in Winnipeg and Windsor, Ont., already have such weapons-screening systems in place.

Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre says more than 1,600 weapons, including knives and blunt instruments, have been detected since the system was installed there in February.

The Health Sciences Association of Alberta, a trade union that represents 30,000 health workers, says it welcomes any added security measure.

“We fully support any measures that will increase the safety,” Leanne Alfaro, the vice-president of the association, told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday. “We want to ensure that any new measures coming in work as they’re supposed to, be meaningful and truly increase the safety at our workplaces for our members and our patients.”

The chief executive officer of Xtract One Technologies, the manufacturer of the screening system being used in Winnipeg that AHS is considering for the Royal Alex, says the technology is helping boost the confidence of hospital workers.

“We’re very pleased that we can deliver a solution that not only creates safer environments, but actually is not only keeping the hospital safe for the patients, but also for the caregivers, too,” Peter Evans told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

The request for proposal for the pilot project is still open. AHS says it will determine if any permanent equipment will be used in the future for emergency departments across the province.