Emerging public health issues in Alaska: occupational and environmental health

The principal purpose of this article is to examine selected Alaskan occupational and environmental health problems and associated issues. Specifically, we focus on two traditional areas of interest in occupational and environmental health: 1) Job-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, and 2) accidental spills and uncontrolled waste sites involving hazardous materials. In 1986 the Alaska Department of Labor reported 13,154 recordable occupational injuries and illnesses among workers in the private sector. The injury rate for private sector workers was 10.2 cases per 100, compared to a rate of 7.9 for the U.S. private sector as a whole. There are approximately 550 known hazardous waste sites in Alaska identified by military, other federal, or state sources. One study documents 1,330 hazardous materials incidents in Alaska during a one year period. Effective public health policy for these occupational and environmental health hazards requires the development of an adequate database and a specific plan of action for the future.