Evaluation of an Alaskan marine safety training program.

The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association provides commercial fishermen with an intensive 18-24-hour course addressing emergency preparedness, emergency response, and survival training. This study is a retrospective evaluation of the effectiveness of the course in reducing drownings and hypothermia deaths among commercial fishermen from January 1, 1991, to December 31, 1994. None of the 114 fishermen who died during the study period were graduated from the course, and none of the 64 vessels on which a death occurred had an course-trained person on board.