The canary: a perfect early warning system

Do you reckon the first person to take a canary down a mine snuck it down in their pocket? 

Or did they carry it down in a wee cage? 

Whichever it was, that person came up with a perfect early warning system that grabbed the miner's attention on a critical matter exactly when it needed grabbing

The practice started because, at the back end of the 1800s, technology was enabling mines to go deeper and deeper into the earth. This exposed miners to ever more dangerous environments such as poisonous gases like carbon monoxide

CO is odourless and colourless, lighter than air and highly flammable

It can quickly build up in the body, making it particularly lethal

And making finding a way to detect it even more crucial 

Cue the canary

Being teeny tiny, someone worked out that a canary would show signs of distress from carbon monoxide poisoning well before a human would

Vv bad for the poor wee canary

Vv good for miners

By 1911, regulations insisted that miners should “use ‘two small caged birds’ each time they went down a mine”

And the canary early warning system stood the test of time, amazingly continuing right up until 1996 (yes, you read that right!)

The canary in the coalmine really was a perfect warning system: quick & effective

CEOs: I wonder what other quick & effective ways there might be for you to identify & get attention on critical risks in your business

This week, try taking 5 minutes to think about whether there are any areas where you'd like to have an early warning system

And what things could help you identify issues in that area quickly & effectively

(No matter how leftfield or yellow feathered they may be)

And if you want someone to bounce any ideas you may have off, give me a shout - I'll happily talk about stuff like that all day

PS: whether they smuggled the first canary down there in their kecks or a cage, can you imagine the looks that first person must have got when they took wee Tweety Pie out down there?