In Washington, a worker with a chemical burn deals with a different agency and different deadlines. In Alaska, bad dock talk like "just wait until it heals" can wreck a claim fast.

What should have happened: after the burn, your husband should have reported it to the employer right away and gotten medical treatment tied clearly to the work exposure. In Alaska, workers' comp runs through the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board in Juneau, and the employer is supposed to file a report after notice of the injury. Waiting because it "wasn't that bad yet" is a common mistake, especially in Kodiak jobs where burns from cleaning chemicals get shrugged off during busy seasons.

The big deadline now: Alaska workers' comp claims generally have a 2-year deadline from the injury or from when the worker reasonably knew the injury was work-related. So if "last summer" means less than 2 years ago, he may still have time. If it is getting close to that mark, this is not a "see how winter goes" situation.

What to do now: gather the timeline immediately:

• date of exposure
• when symptoms first appeared
• when he told a supervisor
• clinic, ER, or eye/skin treatment records
• names of coworkers who saw the exposure or aftermath
• photos, SDS sheets, or product labels if available

If this was a non-work injury instead, Alaska's general personal injury deadline is usually 2 years too. That catches people after summer travel season crashes on roads like the Seward Highway when they think ongoing treatment extends the filing time. It usually does not.

What comes next: once the claim is filed, expect the insurer to question notice, causation, and whether the burn was really work-related or just a preexisting skin problem. If benefits were denied already, the case can move toward a Board hearing. Missing even a week near the 2-year mark can be the difference between arguing over benefits and having no claim left at all.