Louisville officials say 11 employees at Givaudan Sense Colour in Clifton have been hospitalized after a workplace explosion. Two of those employees were rescued by Louisville Fire crews.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Smith said the University of Louisville Hospital is treating seven of those individuals. He said two of the victims are in critical condition and the other five are in stable condition.
All seven patients sent to UofL Hospital underwent a decontamination process. Dr. Smith said that process can take up to 15 minutes and involves removing clothing and any chemicals before taking them for further treatment. Since staff couldn’t be sure exactly what chemicals those injured were exposed to, they decontaminated for anything and everything that may have been contained in the factory.
Smith said they saw a variety of injuries from the explosion including several burn and blast injuries as well as penetrating and blunt injuries from the force of the explosion and crush injuries from any debris that fell on the victims.
The hospital has not seen any explosions like this in quite a while, according to Smith.
The explosion was reported around 3 p.m. on November 12 at 1901 Payne Street. Givaudan Sense Colour is known as the former DDW plant.
Louisville Metro Emergency Services say the initial shelter-in-place order issued for those in a one-mile radius has been lifted. Those within a two-block radius were evacuated.
In an update, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the cause of the explosion is unknown. Greenberg said that everyone who was working in the facility and those around have been accounted for.
Members of the Givaudan team that were inside said everything was operating as normal before the explosion.
Louisville officials are working to get more details from the company about what kind of chemicals were involved.
Businesses on Frankfort Avenue in Clifton have reported damage from this explosion.
Source: WAVE
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