Alaska OSHA State Plan (AKOSH): what a contractor needs to know

Who the AKOSH plan covers

The Alaska State Plan covers all private sector places of employment in the state with the following exceptions:

1. Maritime employment, including shipyard employment, marine terminals, and longshoring;
2. Worksites located on the navigable waters, including artificial islands;
3. Native American health care facilities that are federally owned and contractor-operated, including those owned by the U.S. Department of the Interior – Indian Health Service, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the U.S. Department of Commerce – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and operated by tribal organizations under contract with the Indian Health Service;
4. Operations of employers within the Metlakatla Indian Community on the Annette Islands; except state school district workers;
5. Operations of employers within Denali National Park;
6. Operations of contractors at Cape Lisburne Air Force Station], Point Lay Air Force Distant Early Warning Station, Eareckson Air Station on Shemya Island, Fort Greeley in Delta Junction, the U.S. Coast Guard Integrated Support Commands in Kodiak and Ketchikan, the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Sitka, and the U.S. Coast Guard 17th District Command in Juneau;
7. Contract workers and contractor-operated facilities engaged in United States Postal Service (USPS) mail operations;
8. The enforcement of the field sanitation standard, 29 CFR 1928.110, and the enforcement of the temporary labor camps standard, 29 CFR 1910.142, with respect to any agricultural establishment where workers are engaged in "agricultural employment" within the meaning of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, 29 USC 1802(3) – regardless of the number of workers – including workers engaged in hand packing of produce into containers (whether done on the ground, on a moving machine, or in a temporary packing shed), except Alaska retains enforcement responsibility over agricultural temporary labor camps for workers engaged in egg, poultry, or red meat production, or the post-harvest processing of agricultural or horticultural commodities; and
9. All working conditions of aircraft cabin crewmembers onboard aircraft in operation.

The Alaska State Plan also covers state and local government workers. It does not apply to federal government employers including the United States Postal Service. Federal OSHA covers the issues not covered by the Alaska State Plan. The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor covers the agricultural issues not covered by the Alaska State Plan. In addition, federal OSHA retains enforcement of the anti-retaliation provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Section 11(c), 29 USC 660(c), with respect to the private sector. AKOSH also investigates private and state and local government workplace retaliation cases under a provision analogous to Section 11(c).

Source: OSHA, Alaska State Plan, read October 1, 2026.

Hazard communication in Alaska

The federal compliance dates and how each State Plan adopted HCS 2024 are compared on HazCom deadlines 2026 and in HCS 2024 deadlines by State Plan. The rule every other State Plan cites is in the State Plan HazCom rule map.

Penalties and appeals

Key facts

• OSHA first approved the Alaska State Plan on August 10, 1973 (38 FR 21628); final approval under section 18(e) came on September 28, 1984 (49 FR 38252).
• A summary of the Alaska State Plan is codified at 29 CFR 1952.12.
• OSHA lists 9 exceptions to the plan's private-sector coverage, and federal OSHA covers what the plan does not.
• Federal OSHA keeps enforcement of the anti-retaliation provision of section 11(c) of the OSH Act for the private sector, according to OSHA's page for the plan.
• OSHA's page lists 18 standards Alaska wrote for itself, 3 of them in construction.
• Hazard communication in Alaska runs through 8 AAC 61.1010(b) + 8 AAC 61.1110.
• In FY2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025), AKOSH issued 213 construction citations in 49 inspections, with $643,969 in current penalties (OSHA cited-standards tool).