Included in IMPO's top five news stories: Honeywell union workers are locked out of factories in Indiana and New York and Siemens honors its workers with a music video made from factory sounds.
Take a look at last week's top stories:
2013 Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Set Intentionally: Authorities on Wednesday announced that a massive fertilizer plant explosion more than three years agowas caused by an intentional fire. The blast at the plant in West, Texas, on April 17, 2013 killed 15 people — including 12 first responders — injured 300 and destroyed more than 500 homes. Federal regulators said that West Fertilizer had improperly stored large amounts of potentially dangerous chemicals, and the Obama administration subsequently launched an effort to overhaul safety regulationsat the nation's chemical plants. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives this week said that it ruled out "all viable accidental and natural fire scenarios" following hundreds of interviews, reviews of on-site evidence and camera footage and "extensive scientific testing."
Video: Siemens Turns Factory Sounds Into Music Video: Siemens paid a tribute to its employees in an awesome and unusual way recently — through the form of a music video. But it wasn't just any music; it was the sounds of the factory made into a melody.
Worker Killed By Falling Pipe At Exxon Mobil Refinery: A contract worker was killed early Wednesday morning when a large section of pipe fell at an Exxon Mobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, according to multiple reports. The pipe struck the victim as workers were switching a heat exchanger in a crude distillation unit, investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told KBMT-TV.
UAW Members Locked Out Of NY, IN Honeywell Factories: Honeywell locked union workers out of plants in Indiana and New York last week amid a continued dispute over new labor contracts. United Auto Workers Local 9 in South Bend, IN, and UAW Local 1508 in Green Island, NY, each rejected contract offers from Honeywell the week prior and were locked out beginning the morning of May 9.
Report: Indiana's Coal-Power Use Falls 37 Percent Since '07: Indiana's consumption of coal for electricity generation plunged nearly 40 percent from 2007 through 2015 as its utilities retired older coal-fired plants and increasingly embraced natural gas and renewable energy sources, a new federal report shows. Indiana was among three states that saw big declines in coal consumption for electricity over that 8-year period, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
