Imperial Oil believes instrument failure prompted an alert about a potential hydrogen sulfide leak at its Sarnia manufacturing site Tuesday morning.
Plant sirens sounded before 9am, a Chemical Valley emergency alert was issued and the company notified media by email at 9:20am.
Company Project Manager Peter Cobb says crews responded and, as a precaution, a shelter in place was issued for the site. Workers went to assigned safe havens until the all clear was given.
Cobb says there was no leak. It's believed an analyzer failed, giving a false reading of elevated H2S levels.
He says in plant personnel conducted secondary tests with hand-held backup devices to ensure the site was safe.
