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01/02/2013

Spotlight on NAHAD Leaders: Roger Gautreau of Marathon Petroleum Corporation

Spotlight on Leaders

Interview with Roger Gautreau, safety supervisor for Marathon Petroleum Corp. Gautreau is a member of the NAHAD Hose Safety Institute Advisory Council. At Marathon, he has managed the refinery’s involvement in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program, and he has also served as a Special Government Employee (SGE) with OSHA since 1995, participating in VPP site evaluations and mentoring activities.

NAHAD: Tell me a little about your background and how you got into the safety industry.

Roger Gautreau, Marathon PetroleumRoger Gautreau: I work for Marathon Petroleum Corporation, located in Garyville, LA, and I’ve been here 26 years. I graduated from LSU with an occupational safety and health degree and came to work at the refinery as a safety engineer. Later, in 1992, I assumed the role of safety supervisor for the refinery.

NAHAD: Tell me about your role as safety supervisor for Marathon’s Louisiana refining division. What challenges or projects have you been focusing on recently?

Gautreau: As safety supervisor, I oversee the safety effort for the refinery, which includes contractor and employee safety and training programs. Emergency response and industrial hygiene also fall under my responsibility. We have a staff of nine safety professionals, who implement and design safety programs.

I’ve also managed Garyville’s involvement in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program since our site opened its doors to OSHA and earned it’s designation under the program in 1994. There are a lot of sites around the country in the program, but we were one of the first refineries. We are very proud of this achievement.

NAHAD: Why did you get involved with the Hose Safety Institute Advisory Council?

Gautreau: We have a really good working relationship with our hose supplier in the area, who is a NAHAD Institute Member and we wanted to standardize specifications on hoses to improve their performance and enhance worker protection. We implemented programs involving hose color coding and the designation of different fitting types for different types of hose. We also implemented a safety device to prevent hoses from swinging around and hitting workers in case a hose does fail. Our supplier worked closely with us on that, and they brought The Hose Safety Institute to our attention. Getting involved with the institute and becoming part of the Advisory Council seemed like a great way to further our safety goals.

NAHAD: How has your background helped you to contribute to the goals of the Council, and how have you been involved in the recent process of improving the Hose Safety Guidelines?

Gautreau: Our past experiences have really helped us to improve the program. As part of the Council, we’ve been able to provide input and review of the standards that have been drafted and now implemented by the Council. Being a user and being able to communicate what we were looking for in an end product proved vital in improving the standards.

It’s great to see how proactive the Council has been in this effort. As the Guidelines are more widely embraced, I hope we’ll start to see a more consistent approach to hose safety across the country. I think the best is yet to come.

NAHAD: Marathon’s Garyville, LA, refinery requires that suppliers of utility hoses comply with NAHAD's Assembly Guidelines. Why is this requirement in place, and how does it support Marathon’s quality standards?

Gautreau: It’s very important to us from a quality standpoint and also from a personal safety standpoint. When the NAHAD Hose Assembly Guidelines were implemented, we adopted them as specifications in our hose procedures. Not only do Marathon hoses have to comply with these specifications, but hoses used by contractors and vendors in our facility have to meet these standard as well, and that ensures a greater level of protection.

We’re also a Responsible Care facility, so we have an obligation to our employees and the surrounding community to operate responsibly. That’s part of our business, and the NAHAD guidelines offer us another avenue to do that.

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