Sarnia Manufacturing Centre

Emergency response and safety are important parts of operations at each Shell facility. Our goals are no harm to people and protection of the environment. To achieve our goals, we have a systematic approach to emergency response and safety designed to protect the community and our employees.

In the event of a chemical release, safety sirens in Sarnia’s industrial corridor will sound to alert the public. If you hear the sirens, or are told to Shelter-in-Place, emergency officials recommend that you Shelter, Shut and Listen:

• Stay inside
• Close all windows and secure doors (locking provides a tighter seal)
• Turn off all ventilation systems such as heating or air conditioning
• If there are gaps in windows or doors, seal with tape or damp towels
• Have a battery operated radio for emergencies and tune to local radio stations for more information

Sarnia has a Community Warning System in place that uses several tools to alert the public. If there is a chemical release with the potential to impact the community, the outdoor Safety Sirens located in the vicinity of the emergency will be sounded. The sirens will sound for about three minutes and will be re-sounded periodically during the emergency. Safety sirens are located in the downriver industrial corridor and in the City of Sarnia. NOTE: The sirens are tested on Mondays at 12:30 p.m.

SMC has an Incident Command System (ICS) that provides effective response to any emergency on our site. The ICS provides a quick assessment of emergency situations allowing SMC professionals to quickly evaluate the situation and mount an efficient and effective response – using either our own resources, or if necessary, our own resources in conjunction with the Chemical Valley Emergency Coordination Organization

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AT SHELL WE ARE COMMITTED TO:

The goal of no harm to people - no activity is more important than protecting the health and safety of our employees and the people who live and work near our facilities.

Protecting the environment - we continually determine, establish, introduce, and implement new ways to reduce the environmental impact of our operations, products, and services.

Listening and responding - we strive to be good neighbours and valued business partners to residents, landowners, and other stakeholders that we interact with.

SHELL SARNIA MANUFACTURING CENTRE

Shell operates a refinery and a chemical facility at SMC. The refinery processes up to 85,000 barrels per day of crude oil into products including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and butane (and others) to meet the transportation fuel needs of Ontario. The chemical facility is a key North American producer of isopropyl alcohol - an ingredient in hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and other medical uses. Many of the substances are classified as Schedule 1 substances under Canada's Environmental Emergency Regulations, 2019.

SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS MEASURES

Shell designs its facilities with many safeguards in place making an incident unlikely. However, as a facility that uses and stores flammable and explosive products, a risk of an emergency situation remains. These products can catch on fire, be ignited and sustain combustion, cause explosions requiring medical attention, or even be released on land or into the water or air. If one of these events was to occur, Shell has robust emergency response capabilities to manage these potential environmental and human impacts. Shell exercises these measures to ensure readiness.

Shell is well prepared to protect people and the environment by:

• Maintaining a fully functional and equipped emergency response team which responds to all emergencies on site on a 24/7 basis.
• Maintaining an emergency response Mutual Aid Partnership with surrounding industrial and municipal partners.
• Conducting simulated emergency response practice drills and exercises.
• On-going safety training in first aid, rescue, firefighting, spill preparedness and emergency response among others.
• Implementing, reviewing, and testing Emergency Response Plans. These plans outline the steps that will be taken by SMC emergency response organization.
• Utilizing the Incident Command System (ICS) which provides a standardized framework to respond to emergencies enabling a quick evaluation of the emergency to deploy an efficient and effective response.
• Maintaining a 24-hour emergency number for SMC: 519.481.1245

NOTIFICATION

Shell utilizes the Bluewater Association for Safety, Environment, and Sustainability (BASES) Sarnia-Lambton Alerts Emergency Notifications regional notification tool (formerly MyCNN). This tool communicates information on emergency and non-emergency updates from local industrial sites and evacuations through various media platforms. This tool is not limited to SMCs utilization. For more information on how to subscribe to receive these notifications, please search online for Sarnia-Lambton Alerts Emergency Notifications.

Additionally, local authorities maintain Community Notification Sirens that “provide a community-wide auditory warning of emergencies such as industrial accidents” (www.sarnia.ca/living-here/emergency-services

) in the community. These sirens are located within the local adjacent municipalities and sound during an emergency.

If you hear the sirens, monitor local media as well as alerts via Sarnia-Lambton Alerts Emergency Notifications (formerly MyCNN) for instructions and updates on the situation.

You are receiving this information as part of the advanced public notification requirements under Canada's Environmental Emergency Regulations, 2019.

MORE INFORMATION

To learn more about Shell and our operations at SMC, please visit www.shell.ca/sarnia. To get updates on our operations on Facebook, please follow SMC at www.facebook.com/ShellSarnia.

As an NEB-regulated pipeline, SCL Pipeline, operated by SMC, has an Emergency Management System and an Emergency Response Plan in place to ensure preparedness for the unlikely event of a pipeline incident. In the spirit of transparency, and in response to NEB Order MO-006-2016 and NEB Order MO-002-2017, the following links will take you to the Emergency Management System and Procedure for SCL Pipeline.

View the SCL Pipeline Emergency Management System (PDF, 2 MB)

View the SCL Pipeline Emergency Response Plan (PDF, 4 MB)

View the SCL Pipeline Working Guide (PDF, 1 MB)

On February 25, 2022, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks brought into effect Ontario Regulation 88/22, which, under Section 41(1), requires that each quarterly report, annual report, Sulphur dioxide minimization plan and liquid fuel use report be made available to the public by posting the information, without charge, on the petroleum facility’s website.

To view Sarnia Manufacturing Centre’s (SMC’s) plans and reports required under Ontario Regulation 88/22, select the appropriate link(s) below.

Quarterly and Annual Reports

2025

• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q1 2025 (PDF, 1 MB)
• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q2 2025 (PDF, 2 MB)

2024

• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q1 2024 (PDF, 135 kB)
• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q2 2024 (PDF, 205 kB)
• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q3 2024 (PDF, 2 MB)
• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q4 2024 (PDF, 2 MB)
  
  
• O. Reg 88/22 Annual Report - 2024 (PDF, 216 kB)

2023

• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q1 2023 (PDF, 101 kB)
• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q2 2023 (PDF, 101 kB)
• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q3 2023 (PDF, 178 kB)
• O. Reg 88/22 Quarterly Report – Q4 2023 (PDF, 174 kB)
• O. Reg 88/22 Annual Report - 2023 (PDF, 163 kB)

Sulphur Dioxide Emissions Minimization Plan

• 2024 Sulphur Dioxide Emissions Minimization Plan Summary (PDF, 74 kB)

 

In July of 2017, the Sarnia Manufacturing Centre registered with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) for the Petroleum Refining - Industry Standard under Ontario Regulation 419/05 (the “Standard”). The Standard is intended to provide guidance for the identification and implementation of best available controls to minimize emissions from petroleum refineries, in particular, benzene.

The Implementation Summary and the Performance Summary Tables outline Sarnia Manufacturing Centre’s summary of achievements for the 2019 calendar year.

• View 2019 Annual Ambient Monitoring Report for Petroleum Refining – Industry Standard here (PDF, 1 MB)
• View 2019 SMC Implementation Summary Table here (PDF, 68 kB)
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• View 2019 SMC Performance Summary Table here (PDF, 27 kB)
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The Implementation Summary and the Performance Summary Tables outline Sarnia Manufacturing Centre’s summary of achievements for the 2020 calendar year.

• View 2020 Annual Ambient Monitoring Report for Petroleum Refining – Industry Standard here (PDF, 991 kB)
• View 2020 SMC Implementation Summary Table here (PDF, 121 kB)
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• View 2020 SMC Performance Summary Table here (PDF)
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The Implementation Summary and the Performance Summary Tables outline Sarnia Manufacturing Centre’s summary of achievements for the 2021 calendar year.

• View 2021 Annual Ambient Monitoring Report for Petroleum Refining – Industry Standard here (PDF, 867 kB)
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• View 2021 SMC Implementation Summary Table here (PDF, 69 kB)
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• View 2021 SMC Performance Summary Table here (PDF, 27 kB)
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The Implementation Summary and the Performance Summary Tables outline Sarnia Manufacturing Centre’s summary of achievements for the 2022 calendar year.

• View 2022 Annual Ambient Monitoring Report for Petroleum Refining – Industry Standard here (PDF, 2 MB)
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• View 2022 SMC Implementation Summary Table here (PDF, 273 kB)
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• View 2022 SMC Performance Summary Table here (PDF, 92 kB)
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The Implementation Summary and the Performance Summary Tables outline Sarnia Manufacturing Centre’s summary of achievements for the 2023 calendar year.

• View 2023 Annual Ambient Monitoring Report for Petroleum Refining – Industry Standard here (PDF, 1 MB)
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• View 2023 SMC Implementation Summary Table here (PDF, 181 kB)
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• View 2023 SMC Performance Summary Table here (PDF, 92 kB)
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The Implementation Summary and the Performance Summary Tables outline Sarnia Manufacturing Centre’s summary of achievements for the 2024 calendar year.

• View 2024 Annual Summary Report inclusive of Ambient Monitoring summary, as well as Implementation Summary and the Performance Summary Tables for Petroleum Refining – Industry Standard here (PDF, 1 MB)
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Since registration to the Standard, an MOECC-approved Property Line Monitoring (PLM) program has been implemented through the installation of twelve ambient air monitoring stations along the perimeter of Sarnia Manufacturing Centre.

Data from the monitors is collected in 14-day increments. This data is compiled, analyzed, and posted to this website.

The data collected from the PLM program will help SMC to continue to detect emissions and apply continuous improvement methods towards emission reduction.

• View the SMC map here (PDF, 443 kB)
  , showing the location of the Property line monitors, reviewed and approved by the MOECC.
• View SMC Property Line Monitoring results here (PDF, 303 kB)
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If you have questions about Shell’s participation in Ontario’s Petroleum Refining – Industry Standard under Ontario Regulation 419/05, please contact the SMC Community Liaison Officer at 519-481-1850

On January 1, 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks brought into effect Ontario Regulation 530/18. Section 6(4) requires that the amount of sulphur dioxide, calculated in accordance with the regulation, is made available for examination by any person.

To view the emission report required by section 6(4) of Ontario Regulation 530, select the appropriate link below.

• May 25, 2025 (PDF, 113 kB)
• June 3 to 4, 2024 (PDF, 80 kB)
• July 30 to Aug 1, 2022 (PDF, 122 kB)
• July 25, 2022 (PDF, 101 kB)
• June 28, 2022 (PDF, 100 kB)
• November 28-29, 2021 (PDF, 100 kB)
  
  
• April 7, 2021 (PDF, 60 kB)
• March 27, 2021 (PDF, 61 kB)
• December 26, 2020 (PDF, 59 kB)
• July 8, 2020 (PDF, 60 kB)
• June 22, 2020 (PDF, 59 kB)
• May 23, 2020 (PDF, 60 kB)
  
  
• April 1, 2020 (PDF, 60 kB)
• January 21, 2020 (PDF, 60 kB)
• January 18, 2020 (PDF, 60 kB)
  
  
• January 10, 2020 (PDF, 59 kB)
• October 2, 2019 (PDF, 58 kB)
• September 28, 2019 (PDF, 58 kB)

To view the emission report required by section 9(5) of Ontario Regulation 530, select the appropriate link below:

• 2020 Summary (PDF, 56 kB)
• 2019 Summary (PDF, 77 kB)