A contract worker died Sunday while on the job at Marathon Petroleum's St. Paul Park refinery, after losing consciousness while working on a unit at the facility along the Mississippi River. The worker was pronounced deceased at the scene despite rescue efforts by emergency responders, and the exact circumstances of what caused the loss of consciousness were not immediately available as of Monday.
According to Pioneer Press, Marathon Petroleum Corp. said the contract worker lost consciousness while performing work on a refinery unit, prompting an emergency response. The company said it will conduct its own investigation to determine the cause of the incident and expressed sadness over the worker's death, saying it operates its facilities with what it described as a commitment to worker and community safety and health.
A Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration Compliance spokesperson told the outlet that the agency is reviewing the incident's details. Under Minnesota OSHA regulations, employers are legally required to report any workplace fatality within eight hours, according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.
A Refinery With a History of Safety Incidents
Sunday's death is not the first serious safety incident at the St. Paul Park refinery in recent years. In March 2023, an industrial accident during maintenance repairs at the plant spilled 20,000 gallons of hot asphalt, severely burning two workers who required hospitalization, according to the Union Advocate. That accident was cited by state lawmakers during legislative debates as evidence of urgent safety concerns at the facility. Further back, in 2007, a worker died at the same refinery, according to EHS Today.
Labor tensions at the site have also run high. In January 2021, Marathon locked out roughly 200 Teamsters Local 120 union workers at the refinery for nearly five months following a 24-hour strike centered on company proposals to outsource union jobs to third-party subcontractors, according to PR Newswire's coverage of the dispute.
New State Law Targets Contractor Training Standards
Those incidents helped drive passage of state legislation aimed squarely at refinery contractor oversight. On May 2, 2023, Governor Tim Walz signed a law establishing mandatory apprenticeship training standards for contractor workforces at Minnesota's oil refineries, phasing in a requirement that 30% of contracted tradespeople be registered apprenticeship graduates by January 1, 2024, rising to 60% by January 1, 2026, the Union Advocate reported. That 60% threshold came into full effect earlier this year, meaning the refinery's contractor workforce was already required to meet the higher training ratio at the time of Sunday's death.
The St. Paul Park refinery is one of Minnesota's oil refineries. The St. Paul Park plant has operated since 1939, with a crude oil refining capacity of 105,000 barrels per day, according to a company fact sheet cited by Pioneer Press. Marathon Petroleum Corp. operates the St. Paul Park facility.
The cause of Sunday's death remains under review by both the company and state regulators.
