Sarnia's mayor is expressing concern about the notification process surrounding incidents in Chemical Valley.
Media are no longer given CVECO Code 8 notices warning of a potential problem inside a plant.
Mayor Mike Bradley says it's difficult for media to spread the word, in timely fashion, when their first notification of an incident is when community warning sirens sound.
"We need to find a way to deal with the fact that we rely on the media," says Bradley. "We have social media and MyCNN, which is effective, but we still rely on the regular media to get the message out. We need to find some way to make sure the media know as much as possible as soon as possible, otherwise it impacts the ability to communicate to the public."
Bradley notes that over 300 Code 8's are issued each year but says advance notice of a potential problem would allow media to respond more quickly if a situation escalates.
He says he's been in contact with Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER) in hopes of improving the system by alerting media to be on standby.
Response to a benzene leak at the Shell Corunna site Wednesday evening is being reviewed.
Shell said it first learned of a odour coming from its St. Clair Parkway plant around 4pm and a Code 8 was issued just after 5pm.
Media and the community at large were not notified until after 6pm when traffic control was set up and a precautionary shelter-in-place was issued for the northern portion of Corunna.