On-the-Job Dangers Make Working in Alaska a Risky Business : Accidents: The chance of getting killed at work is nearly five times greater than that of any other state.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Al Burch was a young man working on a shrimp boat off Kodiak Island when his right hand got caught in a winch. His fingers were so badly damaged they remain stiff more than 20 years later.

Burch was lucky.

Alaskans’ risk of getting killed on the job is nearly five times greater than that of workers in any other state, according to new figures from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

Experts say the biggest state’s relatively small population is a factor, as are the inherent dangers of outdoor occupations in some of the toughest working conditions on Earth.

Nationally, deaths from workplace dangers kill 7.2 of every 100,000 workers. Alaska’s rate is 33.1 deaths per 100,000 workers, according to figures compiled for 1980 through 1988.

NIOSH says the three most dangerous jobs in Alaska are commercial fishing, logging and aviation.

At least 83 people died last year in job-related accidents in Alaska, federal figures show. Thirty-eight were reported by the fishing industry, including 35 drownings. Most victims wore no life preservers.

Jim Wilson, an economist in the state Labor Department, pointed out that Alaska’s scanty population--550,043, according to the 1990 census--helps explain its deadly workplace ranking, which is followed by the similarly large and unpopulated states of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

“But that doesn’t explain everything,” Wilson said. “Part of the problem is what we do.”

Injury and death on the job are so common in logging towns and fishing communities that many people can cite relatives or friends maimed or even killed at work: fishermen who lost a couple of fingers over the years, a timber mill worker with injured hands, a construction worker who fell on his head and died.

Mere commuting is a challenge up here.

The state has few roads, so it’s not uncommon for workers--whether village nurses, forest rangers or electricians--to need a small plane to reach a remote job site.

The harsh climate, though taken for granted, can be fatal.

Frostbite is a routine hazard on Alaska’s North Slope, site of the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field. Frigid seas leave rescuers little time to save missing fishermen.

The state’s rate of workplace injury and death prompted NIOSH to open an Alaska office last year, said Richard Kennedy, a statistician in the Anchorage office of the agency.

So far, the agency’s main task here is keeping track of fatal workplace accidents and researching their causes.

But eventually, it also wants to test safety gear specially designed for Alaska occupations.

The front lines of lifesaving for hazardous livelihoods are in places like the Kanakanak Hospital in Dillingham, off the Bering Sea.

While commercial fishers prepare for salmon season to begin, the staff at Kanakanak gets ready for their busy season.

The usual fishing injuries are broken bones and bruises, said the hospital’s medical director, Dr. Ronald Livermont. The most serious cases are flown to hospitals in Anchorage, 325 miles to the northeast.

“Typically, we see falls, carbon monoxide poisoning from motors or people getting caught in machinery,” Livermont said. “From the canneries, we see people getting caught in electrical knives during processing.”

Fishing on wintry high seas and handling massive equipment, like the half-ton pots crabbers use, get riskier yet because of employers’ reliance on temporary laborers, Livermont said.

“They’re not skilled at the jobs, and they work long hours,” he said. “Fatigue is a major factor.”

Burch, the injured shrimp fisherman, is now 56 and executive director of the Alaska Draggers Assn., a fishing group based in Kodiak.

He’s got other stories besides his own to put real lives behind the government figures.

There’s the one about a high school boy who joined a fishing captain off the coast of Seward, 100 miles south of Anchorage. The skipper fell overboard, leaving the boy alone at sea unable to operate the vessel.

The youngster was rescued when the vessel drifted back to land, Burch said. But because he was also ignorant of navigation and couldn’t tell rescuers where the accident occurred, there was no way to save the captain.