In 2019, Alyeska reported 23 incidents to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.¹ There were 22 injuries among the incidents and one was a skin disorder. Among the injured workers, 12 needed to take time off to recover, spending a collective total of 186 days away from work. Six of the accidents led to workers temporarily being either restricted from their work or transferred to a new job while they recovered, spending a total of 231 days away from their work. The number of accidents at Alyeska far exceeded the national average for accidents and resulting time off for injured workers.²

In 2020, Alyeska reported 34 injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.³ Among the injured workers, 20 needed to take time off to recover, spending a collective total of 270 days away from work. Five of the accidents led to workers temporarily being either restricted from their work or transferred to a new job while they recovered, spending a total of 204 days away from their work. These incidents exceeded the national average for accidents and resulting time off for injured workers among fish processing workers in 2020.⁴

In 2021, Alyeska reported 45 injuries and three unspecified illnesses to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.⁵ Among the injured workers, 19 required time off to recover, resulting in a total of 127 days spent away from work, and 18 of the cases led to the worker either being restricted from their work or transferred to a new job while they recovered, spending a total of 187 days away from their work. These accidents exceeded the national average for accidents and resulting time off for injured workers among fish processing workers in 2021.⁶

On January 2, 2021, Alyeska Seafoods closed its fishmeal processing plant after several employees tested positive for Covid-19, according to KTOO.⁷ This left at least five vessels in port with nowhere to deliver their cod.⁸ “It’s going to break my heart, for real, if I throw all this fish away,” a fisher told KTOO.⁹ “We’ve got bills to pay,” said another.¹⁰ On March 3, 2022, an Alyeska employee was walking from the port to the processing plant when she slipped and fell, according to a report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.¹¹ Medics on site prescribed her medication and sent her home, but her condition worsened overnight, and she was flown to a hospital in Anchorage, where she died three days later.¹² The Alaska state medical examiner ruled this as a death from natural causes.¹³

In addition to the Alyeska employee who died in 2022, the company also reported 31 injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.¹⁴ Among the injured workers, 20 needed time off to recover, resulting in a combined total of 198 days away from work. Eight others were either restricted from their work or transferred to a new job while they recovered, spending a total of 131 days away from their work.

In 2023, Alyeska reported 28 injuries and one instance of hearing loss due to occupational exposure to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.¹⁵ The injuries reported included one employee who tore a ligament in his knee and was away from his job for 136 days recovering, another who developed sciatica in his back and leg which required him to take 65 days away from work to heal, and another employee who fell from a ladder and fractured his left wrist, requiring him to take 90 days away from his job while recovering.¹⁶ In total, 13 of the injured Alyeska workers needed to take time away from work for a cumulative 262 days off, and six cases required the injured employee to be transferred or temporarily restricted from their work for 270 days cumulatively.¹⁷ In 2023, fish processing plants reported an average of seven injuries, and three accidents requiring time away from work, which amounted to an average total of 89 days off.¹⁸

Between 2020 and 2025, Alyeska Seafoods Unalaska Processing Facility was the subject of five “informal enforcement actions” for environmental violations including of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.¹⁹

Alyeska Seafoods did not respond to a request for comment.²⁰