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Alberta Hospital Emergency Color Codes

Alberta Hospital Emergency Color Codes: AHS Guidelines

In Alberta, emergency color codes are standardized across all public healthcare facilities, hospitals, and clinical settings managed by Alberta Health Services (AHS) and Covenant Health. These standardized alert codes ensure immediate, coordinated action by healthcare workers, security personnel, and emergency responders during critical incidents.

This guide details the provincial emergency code definitions used across Alberta, key response protocols, and how AHS maintains consistent emergency management standards.

Standard Alberta (AHS) Emergency Color Codes

The following emergency color codes are implemented across Alberta hospitals and health centers under the AHS emergency preparedness framework:

Color Code	Emergency Classification	Alberta Response Protocol
Code Red	Fire / Smoke Emergency	Follow REACT/RACE protocols: Rescue immediate persons, Activate fire alarm, Contain fire/smoke, Extinguish or Evacuate if safe.
Code Blue	Adult Medical Emergency / Arrest	Immediate response of the specialized clinical resuscitation team for adult cardiac or respiratory arrest.
Code Pink	Pediatric Medical Emergency	Pediatric resuscitation team response for infant or child medical emergencies and cardiac arrests.
Code White	Responsive / Aggressive Behavior	De-escalation and security intervention for verbal threats, physical violence, or unsafe behavioral disruptions.
Code Purple	Hostage Situation / Barricaded Person	Involves a hostile person holding hostages or barricaded in a unit. Security limits access and notifies police.
Code Yellow	Missing Patient / Resident	Triggers systematic internal and external perimeter searches for a vulnerable or high-risk missing patient.
Code Amber	Child / Infant Abduction	Immediate lockdown of facility doors, elevator controls, and exit checks following suspected child abduction.
Code Brown	Hazardous Material Spill	Containment protocol for internal chemical, biological, or radiological spills requiring specialized clean-up procedures.
Code Black	Bomb Threat / Suspicious Package	Implementation of bomb threat reporting checklists, localized search sweeps, and police coordination.
Code Silver	Active Shooter / Person with Weapon	Immediate response to an armed individual or active shooter: Run, Hide, Fight protocols and facility lockdown.
Code Green	Evacuation	Phased or immediate evacuation (precautionary or crisis) of a specific ward or the entire medical facility.
Code Orange	External Mass Casualty / Disaster	Medical facility activation for external community disasters or mass casualty events impacting hospital capacity.
Code Grey	Infrastructure / System Failure	Protocol for critical utility loss (power, water, heating/cooling, IT systems) or toxic air intake isolation.

Key Highlights of Alberta Health Services Protocols

Alberta's centralized health system structure provides unique consistency across urban and rural sites:

AHS & Covenant Health Alignment: Unlike provinces with fragmented regional boards, Alberta Health Services applies a single, province-wide Emergency Management Framework across all AHS and Covenant Health facilities.
Code Purple Differentiation: Alberta maintains Code Purple specifically for hostage or hostage-barricade incidents, distinct from general aggressive behavior (Code White) or active shooter situations (Code Silver).
Rural Facility Incident Management: Small rural health centres in Alberta utilize scaled versions of these exact same color codes to facilitate seamless staff transfers from larger hubs like Calgary or Edmonton.

Explore Provincial Emergency Color Codes

Select another province below to view regional emergency code definitions and health authority standards:

Canadian Emergency Color Codes Hub – Complete national summary and overview of Canadian hospital standards.
Ontario Emergency Color Codes – Official Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) emergency standards.
British Columbia Emergency Color Codes – BC Health Authorities standardized color code guide.
Quebec Emergency Color Codes – Quebec CISSS and CIUSSS alert codes guide.
Atlantic Canada Emergency Color Codes – Codes for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, and Newfoundland.

Master Healthcare Emergency Color Codes Reference Guide

What do the color codes mean?

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Implementation in 3 Simple Steps

SITE MAPPING

Submit your code definitions, procedures and any other relevant information. We build and configure your custom PWA app for your approval. We also custom design your badge backers labels or entire info badges for your approval,

SOLUTION DELIVERY

After your approval, receive delivery of your custom badge backers and PWA app for your institution. Included is a implementation guide and designed station guides with QR code for installation.

STAFF DISTRIBUTION

Hand out badges and explain PWA app at shift huddles. Staff can easily scan the QR code to be instantly audit ready. PWA app can also be installed via link on your intranet or via email.

Easy Setup.
How Staff Access.

1. Scan

Scan provided QR codes or email links to easily access and install PWA app to device.

2. ACCESS

App opens instantly. Zero logins. Zero passwords

3. Offline

Works 100% offline.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are protocol changes handled after deployment?

Zero manual updates or re-installations are required from your team. When an administrator updates a code extension or protocol through our managed portal, changes are instantly deployed over the air. The next time staff devices connect to a network, the updated static assets sync automatically behind the scenes.

Is Mobile Device Management (MDM) or Intune required?

No. The solution is an offline-first Progressive Web App (PWA) that loads directly in any standard mobile browser via QR scan. It bypasses MDM provisioning entirely, requires zero app store downloads, requests zero device permissions, and works on both personal (BYOD) and facility-issued devices out of the box.

How do new hires and agency staff get oriented on day one?

Onboarding takes under 30 seconds. During shift huddles or orientation, new staff receive their physical badge backer and scan the QR code using their mobile camera. The app opens instantly without creating account profiles, signing up, or waiting for IT provisioning.

Does the PWA store any operational data or facility information on staff devices?

Only static, non-sensitive reference media (such as local code names and extension phone numbers) is cached locally via standard browser Service Workers. The application stores zero user inputs, zero logs, zero location history, and zero session data on the employee’s personal or facility device.

Do you use third-party tracking scripts, advertising pixels, or telemetry in the PWA?

No. To maintain strict zero-PHI compliance, the app contains zero third-party analytics (like Google Analytics or Meta Pixels), zero session-recording scripts, and zero advertising SDKs. The app communicates exclusively with our static content delivery network (CDN).

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