LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Givaudan Sense Colour's leadership is taking accountability days after a factory exploded in Louisville, killing two workers and injuring nearly a dozen others.
"We are accountable for Tuesday's events," President Ann Leonard said during a virtual press conference Friday. She said the company will pay for the damage to neighbors' homes.
While the cause of the explosion remains under investigation, many residents in Clifton are expressing frustration with a new hotline Givaudan has setup because calls don't go directly to the company.
The number launched for residents to report damage, ask questions and get help instead go to a third-party company, Belfor, a fire damage restoration service in Jeffersontown.
One neighbor, Kim Hart, is the landlord of a home that suffered property damage on Payne Street.
Hart's house is located right across the street from the blast site. Boarded up windows, shards of glass on the porch, and inside -- cracks in the walls.
"I asked the guy who answered if they were working with the company and if the cost of repairing my home would be from the company or me, and he said he didn't know," she explained.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, who shared the phone number with the community late Thursday night, was surprised to learn calls weren't going to Givaudan.
"I was told that was to call the company directly, this is the first I'm hearing about that," he said. "I will be sure to speak with the company about that. I thought it was going directly to the company."
Givaudan President Ann Leonard said their company didn't have the staffing to take all the community's calls directly.
"We felt like we could respond to [the community's] queries and their issues much more completely, much more quickly, much more efficiently, handling this through a third-party," she said.
Greenberg called it "disappointing," saying he would encourage Givaudan to share a company number for residents.
The company's leadership is expected to meet with residents face-to-face at a community meeting inside the United Crescent Hill Ministries building on State Street at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 18.
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