Security training with AI-powered weapons detectors to be deployed at N.S. hospitals

Security guards are being trained at Halifax area hospitals Saturday and Sunday.

Security guards for the Dartmouth General Hospital and QEII’s Halifax Infirmary are training with a new AI-powered weapons screening system.

The goal is to significantly reduce secondary screening – currently required at the QEII – while also keying in on threats.

The detectors were part of a pilot project in Truro earlier this year.

“They give our security team the ability to have an idea of whether or not this person might have a weapon on them,” says Dean Stienburg, the director of security for Nova Scotia Health. “They differ from conventional metal detectors in that they’re able to recognize a lot of the common items that people might have that are not weapons but are made of metal.”

He says with the existing conventional metal detector at the QEII, 90 per cent of the time people require secondary screening due to a lack of recognition for “common items.”

“We expect with this technology, we will likely be able to drop those secondary searches down to 40 or 50 per cent, which should move things along much quicker and be less invasive for people as they come through,” he says, “but still giving us a high level of confidence that we’re going to catch any type of dangerous items.”

Michelle Thompson, the province’s health minister, says the goal is to keep everyone safe — patients and staff alike.

“We know that there has been — historically over a number of years — increasing violence in health care environments,” she says. “While there are reasons that may be happening, there’s still no excuse.”

The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) and Nova Scotia Nurses Union have been demanding action on violence in hospital settings.

Sandra Mullen, the president of NSGEU, welcomes the change but she says behavioural violence is also a challenge.

“It doesn’t always involve a weapon,” she says. “However, we do need to keep those weapons out as much as we can.”

“This is looking for metal items, pipes, blade-edge weapons, even box cutters, things like that,” Stienburg says. “(Items) that we may not commonly think as being dangerous, but in fact are dangerous and we don’t need them in the hospital.”

“This is one solution. It’s not the only solution. And we certainly have other things that we’re working towards. But today, this is the one that we’re rolling out and we’re hoping it’s going to have a real positive impact.”

The detectors didn’t catch everything on Thursday, but Stienburg says part of the purpose of the training is to adjust the settings.

“We need to find that right balance between not being too invasive and not slowing things down too much but being very confident that we’re going to catch a large percentage.”

The goal, Stienburg says, is to catch 90 per cent of potential dangers.

There will be opportunities to adjust over the two days of training before systems are rolled out at Halifax and Dartmouth hospitals Saturday.

People are asked to arrive early this weekend, particularly for appointments.

Over the next six months, a dozen healthcare facilities will get at least one of these detectors, at $80,000 each. Officials agree that the cost is worthwhile for safety.

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