IMAGES | Crews begin demolition at Givaudan site in Louisville's Clifton neighborhood | Business

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Demolition appears to have started on the Givaudan Sense Colour plant that exploded last year in Louisville's Clifton neighborhood.

The company said Tuesday it would not be rebuilding at its Payne Street location, which is now coming down. However, the company said it's considering different options for a future facility in Kentucky or surrounding states.

The Nov. 12 explosion at the food coloring plant killed two men, injured 11 others and damaged many surrounding homes and businesses in the community.

Drone footage shows the once-operational plant reduced to a mangled mess of steel pipes, aluminum, and cooking vessels being loaded into dumpsters —a sight Joe Smithson, a nearby resident, never thought he'd see.

"People are glad to see them going, since everybody just found out about it," Smithson said.

IMAGES | Crews begin cleanup at Givaudan site in Louisville's Clifton neighborhood

Neighbors begged the city to block a rebuild in Clifton, citing years of problems including another explosion at the same site in 2003 that killed one worker when a tank overheated and burst. A U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigation into that 2003 incident revealed glaring safety oversights:

“There is no evidence that the tanks were designed, fabricated, or tested in accordance with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers,” a report found.

Investigators also noted a lack of safety procedures for operating the cooking vessels. Following the 2003 incident, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board recommended several safety upgrades, including:

Ensuring all vessels are equipped with adequate overpressure protection.
Installing alarms to detect unsafe conditions.

For the recent explosion, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) concluded that the cooking vessel failed to vent properly, leading to overheating and over-pressurization.

Smithson’s home, located just north of the plant, suffered significant damage from the explosion. An ATF investigator explained to him how the blast impacted his property.

"She tried to explain to me how the explosion works—how it sucks in the air and pushes it out," Smithson said.

Investigations at the site are expected to continue for the next few weeks and months. The Chemical Safety Board is conducting the primary investigation and have been on-site regularly since the November blast. OSHA and EPA are also conducting investigations.

Givaudan expects increased activity at the site and more visitors in the first two weeks of February. Attorneys and engineers from any company on notice will be able to visit and investigate in February. Givaudan expects representatives from around 30 companies to visit.

Givaudan said Crawford & Company insurance teams have been conducting damage assessments since November. According to a news release, most of the properties that have been reported have been assessed for damage. The insurance company is in the process of issuing payments to be used for repairs.

The company has been holding community sessions at United Crescent Hill Ministries since the explosion. The last one scheduled was on Jan. 22, but another session is tentatively planned for Feb. 12.

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