This week's winner has revolutionized the way sanitation and water treatment are handled worldwide, but especially in developing countries. This week's loser earned more than $560,000 in fines and citations for workplace safety and health violations following an explosion in February.
Winner
Janicki Bioenergy has been working on the Omni Processor with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation since 2013. Though they shipped the Model S100 to Dakar, Senegal in mid-February this year, Gates Notes (Bill Gates' blog) posted an update video on Tuesday about the difference the Omni Processor is making so far. Check out the video below:
As Dr. Mbaye Mbeguere, Program Coordinator for the National Institute of Sanitation, said in the video: "Drinking water is life. But sanitation is dignity."
The machine not only creates drinkable water from sewage waste, but it also produces electricity — and, after getting started, it becomes self-sustaining.
The Omni Processor has the potential to make a world of difference in developing countries by reducing waste and providing safe drinking water, and for that, Janicki Bioenergy earns this week's winning title.
Read more about the way it works on Bill Gates' blog here.
Loser
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigated an explosion that took place at an ExxonMobil facility in Torrance, near Los Angeles, on Feb. 18. The blast slightly injured four contractors, heavily damaged equipment and rained ash on nearby homes and cars.
Cal-OSHA found the explosion was caused by vapor leakage from a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit into an electrostatic precipitator.
According to Cal-OSHA, the FCC unit had not been working properly for up to nine years prior, and management was aware of the potential fire and explosion hazards that could result from the leakage but failed to correct it.
Cal-OSHA said 18 of the 19 citations to ExxonMobil are classified as serious due to the violations posing threats of serious injury or death.
The fact that management knew of these risks and did nothing to fix them clearly exemplifies their negligence to their employees working there as well as the surrounding neighborhood. In addition, they suffered serious damage to equipment, which clearly harms the business.
So, along with the citations and fines from Cal-OSHA, Exxonmobil has also earned this week's title as loser.