Healthcare workers in Alberta, Canada, filed a record 1,108 violence claims with the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) in 2025, the highest number in a decade. That is according to WCB figures obtained by Canadian broadcaster CBC News. Unions say the figures do not tell the full story.
What the numbers show
The number of violence claims filed by healthcare workers rose from 672 in 2016 to 1,108 in 2025, a 65 percent increase over nine years. Since 2022, the annual claim count has consistently exceeded 1,000. Claims rose year over year, with a slight dip during the first two pandemic years (2020-2021), after which the upward trend resumed. A provincial spokesperson noted that the healthcare sector has grown by 36 percent since 2019, but gave no figure for claims per employee, leaving it unclear whether the risk per worker has also increased.
How are hospitals and unions responding?
Leanne Alfaro, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, said the WCB figures only capture accepted, reported claims and that “the legislation needs to be stronger to guarantee a safe workplace and hold employers accountable for it.” Sandra Azocar, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, attributes the rise to staffing shortages, longer wait times and a growing number of patients experiencing homelessness and mental health issues arriving at hospitals. Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital introduced weapons screening in May 2026, following a stabbing in its emergency department in April 2026. The University of Alberta Hospital followed suit in September 2026. At Royal Alexandra Hospital, the number of prohibited items found rose from an average of 120 to 140 per month to 359 per month after screening began. Under Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, employers are required to treat violence as a workplace hazard, conduct risk assessments, maintain a violence-prevention plan and investigate every incident.
Context
The trend in Alberta is not an isolated case: Nurse.org’s State of Nursing Survey 2026, which polled 2,090 nurses in the United States, found that 27 percent had been physically assaulted at work in the preceding twelve months and 52 percent had faced verbal threats or aggressive language. Of the nurses who experienced an incident, only 54 percent formally reported it, and in 40 percent of those cases the employer took no action. OSHA, the U.S. workplace safety authority, calls violence against healthcare workers a recognized and likely underreported risk, and advises employers to adopt a zero-tolerance policy, systematic risk assessments and a fully developed prevention program.
For HSE professionals worldwide, Alberta’s figures underscore a pattern visible across the healthcare sector elsewhere too: underreporting, rising workloads and a growing number of patients with complex social and mental health needs are straining prevention plans and reporting structures, regardless of the country in which an institution operates.
Source: Alberta health-care workers’ violence claims hit 10-year high: WCB, 29 September 2026
Additional research: Nurse.org State of Nursing Survey 2026, OSHA – Healthcare Workplace Violence
