Occupational medicine: protecting employees in the workplace.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy
• Position: HEALTH & MEDICINE

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Accidents and injuries are an everyday fact of life in workplaces throughout Alaska. People fall, vehicles and heavy objects strike them, they suffer burns, wrench their backs, breathe in substances that might be toxic, toil amid loud sounds that gradually erode their hearing. Fortunately, a growing number of employers are doing more to prevent on-the-job accidents, injuries and fatalities as well as protect the health of men and women who work for them.

"Employee advocacy groups have worked alongside employers to help ensure injured workers get the appropriate care," said Dr. Bruce Kiessling, founder and medical director of Primary Care Associates, a full-service medical practice established more than 40 years ago that now has 22 providers in four locations, provides diagnosis and treatment of work-related injuries, performs screening services and assesses fitness. "This mutual effort and respect for the same goal had not coexisted as consistently in the past."

Occupational health involves identifying and either preventing or controlling risks arising from physical, chemical, and other workplace hazards, to establish and maintain a safe, healthy working environment, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

WORKPLACE HAZARDS

These hazards may include chemical agents and solvents, heavy metals such as lead and mercury, physical agents such as loud noise or vibration, and physical hazards such as electricity or dangerous machinery.

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In 2008, 33 fatal workplace injuries occurred in Alaska, according to statistics available from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The following year, that number decreased 48 percent, falling to 17 fatal injuries in 2009.

A few of the most recent of these accidental fatalities are listed on the State Division of Labor and Safety Standards' "Fatalgram."

* Jan. 25: An employee of a logging outfit on Afognak Island received fatal injuries after a 2,000-pound spool of banding wire slipped off its anchor point and fell, asphyxiating him. An Alaska Occupational Safety and Health investigation revealed the job task was intermittent and not a primary job task for the victim. It was considered a routine job task by the company and, as a result, there was inadequate job task training, written standard operating procedures and hazard assessment.

* Sept. 8, 2010: An employee of a company in Anchorage received fatal injuries when...