Media Release

Shell Geelong Refinery is installing a new Emergency Alarm initiation point to ensure there are two locations where an alarm can be sounded in case of an emergency. Testing of the new system will take place on Tuesday 22 March 2005, at 9.00 am and will last up to one hour.

Currently the Refinery’s Emergency Alarm system has only one initiation point, and if that area needs to be evacuated, there is no way to initiate a Minor, Major or All Clear Alarm.

The new Emergency Alarm system will keep the existing initiation point in the Main Gate and add another within the Refinery Control Building.

Swapping from the old alarm system to the new will only take a few minutes. However the tests will involve some reinitiating of the Emergency Alarm between 9:00 am and 10:00 am.

To completely test the system Shell will need to ring the Minor Alarm followed by the Major Alarm and then the All Clear Alarm at both locations. This test will occur twice, approximately 30 minutes apart.

Swapping from the old alarm system to the new will only take a few minutes. However, if there is a real emergency during this time, communication at Shell will be maintained through the standard radio systems to manually initiate the alarms.

Further Information

Shell Geelong Refinery apologises for any inconvenience the testing may cause and hopes the community will understand the extensive tests are necessary to ensure the safety and reliability of the Refinery’s Emergency Alarm.

If community members have any further question or concerns, please contact Shell Geelong’s inquiry line on 5273 8333.