The Burning Heat II

Few days ago I published a post about the heat wave that hit Jeddah in the past week. I’ve commented on the poor PR performance of both the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) and how they’ve engaged in a pointless debate about whether the temperature was 49 °C or it only was 46 °C!!

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=dubai+skyscraper&iid=7156353″ src=”4/e/0/a/Dubai_Debt_Crisis_91b3.jpg?adImageId=12980718&imageId=7156353″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /]The exemplary reaction, came from our neighbors in Dubai. According to this piece of news (Arabic), the UAE Ministry of labor has decided to stop any labor outdoor activities between 12:30 to 15:00 for a period of time extended from the mid of June up to the mid of September. The surprising thing, to me at least, is that this decision is in place since 2005! And in this year, the restricted months have been increased to three instead of only two in the pervious years. And those found noncompliant with the ruling will be fined by the government and their working permits would be suspended.

The point is that they were not debating whether the temperature would be this or that, they just tackled the main point of the whole subject and they acted accordingly. Again, for SEC and PME, please focus on your own missions and make sure you are providing your services in exemplary means.

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It seems that the Saudi ministry of labor followed course and decided to ban working under the sun from 12 PM to 3 PM starting July through the end of August but it is not effective immediately, it is to start on 2011! (the news here). This is good news , but why 2011 and not now; Allah only knows!!

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The Burning Heat

From: http://www.al-madina.com

The past couple of days were ‘hot’ in Jeddah, and I mean that literally! And what got things really hotter is the debate between the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and the rest of us, Jeddaweis (people from Jeddah.)

SEC claimed that it had major power cutoffs in Jeddah because of the unusual temperature that reached 49 °C. The PME, feeling that SEC just stepped on their speciality came out and said “No … No … It was never 49, it was only 46 °C. (read here, in Arabic)

Now let’s talk business:

• To SEC, please do not try to blame the weather for your poor performance, I am not sure anybody is buying that. Let’s say that it was really 49 °C … so what??? It is not like you are operating the network from Alaska or anything!! So the summary of the message is: the poor PR performance of trying to cover failures by ‘not so smart’ justifications is not acceptable, that’s beside SEC apparently poor contingency and back up plans to deal with the ‘more than expected’ heat this summer, and please note, we are not summer yet!
• To PME, your response was like saying ‘do not exaggerate people, hey … it’s only 46 °C.’ We would’ve really appreciate showing some feelings for us, the Jeddaweis who felt that burning heat to the bone! Or even better, you could’ve sent messages to some companies to take some kind of measures to protect their field workers. So the summary of the message is: when you do not have a good PR to share with the rest of us, it is much better to keep it in your drawers and not to play smart on us!

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