When you report for your shift, your first duty is to participate in a “Tool Box Meeting.” Another safety requirement at the refinery is a Job Hazard Analysis Form, which is completed prior to each job assignment during the day. OSHA Standards are strictly adhered to and even taken a step farther with the requirement for quarterly inspections. This organization operates like a finely tuned machine. Devawn Shellenbarger, Member of Local #347 and Recording Secretary, has worked for Brand Scaffold at the refinery for several years and says she sees the effort put into making sure that every crew member working there is safe and that the job is done right. Don Nelson, Business Representative for Local #347, says the working relationship he has with Micky Cooper is one of mutual respect and cooperation. Cooper agrees. They both want to make sure that the job gets done!

I had an impressive tour of the refinery with Marathon’s Nicole Hall and Aaron Ikemire from Brand Scaffold. The scaffolding built by our union carpenters’ looks like intricate pieces of sculpture. Everywhere you look you see orange netting at the top of each piece. The “Bone Yard,” is the name given to the supply area for each piece used in these works of art.

Brand Scaffold Rental and Erection, LLC is just one small portion of Brand Energy and Infrastructure Service. Founded in 1966 as a Chicago insulation contractor, Brand Energy and Infrastructure Services is the leading diversified provider of specialty multi-craft services to the North American downstream energy infrastructure market. Its extensive portfolio of service offerings includes work access, specialty coatings, abrasive blasting, insulation, refractory, corrosion protection, weatherproofing and other related crafts. Brand operates in four key energy sectors: refining, Canadian Oil Sands, petrochemical and power generation. The company also serves the infrastructure construction markets throughout North America and in strategic international regions.

Marathon’s Illinois refinery sits on more than 900 acres and employs approximately 600 employees, as well as numerous specialty contractors. The refinery has the capacity to convert approximately 204,000 barrels per day of crude oil into a wide variety of petroleum products including: gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel fuel, liquefied petroleum gases (LPGs), sulfur, and anode-grade coke.

The refinery has a tradition dating back to 1906, when Lincoln Oil Company built the original facility. In 1924, the then 750 barrel per day capacity refinery was acquired by the Ohio Oil Company, forerunner of today’s Marathon Oil Corporation. The facility was expanded over the next several decades to meet burgeoning demand, as well as World War II production requirements.

To meet the huge increase in consumer demand after the war, the refinery was extensively rebuilt in the late 1940s, increasing its capacity to 40,000 barrels per day. By the late 1960s, refinery capacity stood at 65,000 barrels per day. A major modernization project was completed in 1970 that nearly doubled the capacity to 125,000 barrels per day, and set the stage for the current configuration. More recent renovations have increased the refinery capacity to its current level and enabled production of low-sulfur gasoline and distillate fuels.