Why is it Called a Bump Test Anyway? Coal Mines and Canaries
Why is it Called a Bump Test Anyway?
The
first real form of gas detection was the canary in a coal mine. Canaries were
used because they would fall victim to the effects of carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases well
before miners, and as a result, alert the miners to changes in the atmosphere
of the mine. The miners were betting their lives, and the lives of the rest of
the miners, on the bright yellow birds. Each day the miners would show up for
work and before heading underground for their shifts, they would grab a canary
in its cage and lightly “bump” it against a wall to ensure the canary was still
alive. This practice was called a “bump test.” It was a vital check for
the miners, since it wouldn’t make sense to bring a dead canary into a coal
mine.
The
term bump testing is quite likely the most used term in the portable gas
detection world. By now, most users know what a bump test is. Still, many don’t
know why, or in some cases how to do it.
“How
do I bump test? Why do I bump test? How often do I need to do bump
testing?”
“Hey
have you bump tested your gas monitor?”
“Where
is your bump test record?”
These
are just some of the questions I have encountered over the past 7 years working
in the gas detection industry.
In
simple terms, a bump test is a functional test of the gas monitor to ensure
that the sensors will respond to their target gas and that the alarms will
function. This is performed by briefly exposing the sensors to their target
gas. Bump testing should be performed before each day’s use.
Bump tests check for sensor and alarm functionality but
do not measure sensor accuracy and do
not make adjustments to the instrument in the way that a calibration does. Another, more technical reason why
you should bump test has to do with battery conditioning,
which you can read more about here.
Regardless
of the brand or type of gas monitor you use, you have likely asked some of
these questions about bump tests before. I have had thousands of conversations
about bump testing, trained countless users on how to use their monitors, when
to bump test, and how to bump test, and all of these questions come up again
and again. The one question that I have been asked and didn’t really have an
answer for was:
“Why
do you call it a bump test?”
At
this point I have a confession to make… I made up the “bump test” bit
of the canary story. To find the true origin of the term, I spent
countless hours searching and asking around. Faced with adversity in my quest
for answers, I sat down and thought long and hard. Accordingly, I made up a
story to answer the question.
After
I came up with the canary story, I began telling it every time I trained a
user, and it was always good for a laugh. The important part is that I follow
it up with an explanation of why it’s so important to bump test your monitor.
Stop
Taking Dead Canaries into Your Coal Mine
Every
day that you put on your gas monitor, you bet your life and everything you
cherish on that little device. In most applications, it’s only a matter of time
until you will rely on the ability of that gas monitor to do its job. That gas
monitor is your canary, so please stop to make sure that the canary you take
into your coal mine (refinery, oil well, steel mill, confined space) is not
dead.
Content re-purposed from Industrial Scientific | Written by Sean Linton | Apr 27, 2017
