LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – As the early stages of an investigation into Tuesday’s factory explosion at Givaudan Color Sense continue, the disaster brings to mind an eerily similar image for the neighborhood.

On an early April morning in 2003, workers saw the same terrifying moment this week. At around two in the morning, an explosion killed a factory worker, 44-year-old Louis Perry.

“There was a loud explosion and the house shook,” said another homeowner. “And that’s what initially woke us up and really didn’t know what was going on.”

The paint factory next door, then owned by DD Williamson, was just a pile of twisted metal and ash. The smell of ammonia lingered in the air, and 26,000 pounds of it had leaked from an ammonia tank that fell during the explosion.

Perry was working on the company’s signature caramel coloring, along with his brother, when things started to go terribly wrong. Perry sent his brother to get help.

“The product leaked into one of the tanks,” Louisville Fire reported in 2003. “That’s when he went to alert the maintenance supervisor and that’s when the explosion happened.”

Perry was killed instantly. His brother and three others who were working were not injured.

An eight-foot high feed tank had overheated. It was a problem Perry saw unfold right before his eyes, but he hadn’t been trained to fix it himself. Investigators would later determine that it was a prominent problem in the company. There were never basic measures in place to prevent the disaster.

After an 11-month investigation, the investigators submitted their report in a public hearing. As described in transcripts from that meeting and in theirs final reportinvestigators found that the feed tank had previous damage and that the safety valve to prevent overheating was missing. The tank also had not been registered in Kentucky and had not been inspected.

That failure was fixed in one out of 10 recommendations issued by the Chemical Safety and Health Investigation Board after the 2003 explosion.

The implementation of hazard analysis programming, safeguards against overheating and written operating procedures were among other recommendations the company received and acted upon.

The series of failures created an accident that officials said “didn’t have to happen.”

In 2021, the factory was acquired by Givaudan.

On Tuesday, two workers were killed and 11 injured in another explosion that destroyed the facility and sent debris flying into the nearby neighborhood. The force of the explosion alone caused extensive damage to homes and businesses in the area. Many in the community have called for the facility to pack it up and move out of the dense residential area. Similar calls were made in 2003, but the factory was rebuilt.

Residents and city officials alike have acknowledged that the area has changed a lot since the factory first found a home in Clifton. Talks have fallen apart as to whether it should now be moved.

Louisville Fire, ATF and emergency officials have all been working since the explosion to find out what caused it. We contacted LFD to ask how long the first on-site investigation might take. LFD spokesperson Donovan Sims said there’s no real way to know how long it will last, but they don’t expect it to end this week.

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