Canaries can have a short but significant life in a coal mine. Significant because, in their traditional role, they were used to identify the dangerous and costly fumes known as methane and carbon monoxide which could cause the loss of the business of the mine, the brand of the mine owners, and the skilled human assets of their workers.
Since canaries are extremely sensitive to small traces of the costly fumes, if they were singing, the business of the mine was okay. If they were dead, then it was a strong critical indicator that your business assets would be impacted with the degree of impact determined by the process and actions of the people to the data.