Gov. Joe Manchin wants to require chemical companies to report accidents quickly.

The governor is seeking to apply a 15-minute reporting requirement for coal mining accidents to other industries. Within the next few days, he'll ask chemical companies to voluntarily comply with the reporting requirement, then seek legislation next year.

West Virginia Homeland Security Secretary Jimmy Gianato announced the plan Thursday during a hearing on emergency response to the August 28 explosion and fire at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute. One worker was killed and another seriously was injured in a unit that makes pesticide.

Emergency responders have said Bayer gave them little information until nearly two hours after the explosion. The company waited more than two hours to formally report the accident to the federal government's National Response Center.