Please read the law passage and the three scenarios below. After reading it, please answer the question at the end of each scenario.

Law Passage

Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety Act contains the following provisions regarding the right to refuse unsafe work:

35(1) No worker shall

(a)carry out work if, on reasonable and probable grounds, the worker believes that there exists an imminent danger to the health or safety of that worker, ...

(2) In this section, "imminent danger" means in relation to any occupation

(a) a danger that is not normal for that occupation, or

(b) a danger under which a person engaged in that occupation would not normally carry out the person's work ...

(4) On being notified under subsection (3), the employer shall

(a) investigate and take action to eliminate the imminent danger, ...

(c) written record of the worker's notification, the investigation and action taken,

and

(d) give the worker who gave the notification a copy of the record described in clause (c). ...

(7) If a worker who receives a record under subsection (4)(d) is of the opinion that the imminent danger still exists, the worker may file a complaint with an officer. ...

36. No person shall dismiss or take any other disciplinary action against a worker by reason of that worker acting in compliance with this Act, the regulations, the adopted code or an order given under this Act, the regulations or the adopted code.

Apply these provisions to answer the question posed in each of the following three scenarios, which take place in a hospital in Alberta.

Scenario One: The Initial Refusal

Queen Elizabeth Hospital is the only health care facility in the region with facilities (two rooms with magnetic locks on the doors) to contain violent psychiatric patients prior to transfer to one of the province's mental health hospitals. On January 16, a psychiatric patient with a history of unpredictable and goal-oriented violence was admitted to the hospital. The patient experienced an episode, and three security guards were injured while attempting to subdue him. After the failed attempt to subdue him, the patient managed to break the magnetic lock on the door. Nurses were forced to hold the door closed against him to prevent him from escaping into the emergency ward until RCMP officers arrived.

On January 18, the patient was returned to the hospital by the RCMP. The nurses refused to provide medical care to the patient because they believed he posed a threat to their health and safety and the health and safety of the other patients on the ward. They did not believe that the remaining secure room was capable of containing the patient or that hospital security staff were capable of subduing the patient.

Question 1: Were the nurses justified in refusing the work based on their view that it was unsafe?

Scenario Two: The Investigation and Ongoing Refusal

Queen Elizabeth Hospital's human resources manager was notified of the work refusal at 3:30 p.m. The manager immediately investigated the situation and ascertained that the psychiatric patient posed no imminent danger. The manager determined that the nurses routinely worked with violent patients and the hospital provided security guards for the emergency ward as a matter of course. Thus, by 4:30p.m., the manager of human resources spoke to the nurses directly and informed them that the hospital deemed there to be no imminent danger and that the nurses were to care for the patient. The nurses continued to refuse to provide medical care until the patient was transferred to one of the province's mental health hospitals the next morning.

Question 2: Did the hospital comply with its obligations under the Act?