Distress and Her Callings

I wish I understood

It used to be so nice, it used to be so good

So when you're near me, darling can't you hear me

SOS

The turmoil in world financial markets over recent weeks has had Honestly Lay Bare thinking about stress and distress.

Or more precisely distress signals.

We as risk / internal controls / governance professionals have many things at our disposal but one thing we don’t have is a common, universally understood and respected signal to call out the distress (or otherwise) of the frameworks that we are called upon to develop, review or dismantle.

It is time for the Governance Distress Call.

***

The first use of wireless in communicating the need for assistance came in March of 1899.

The East Goodwin Lightship, marking the southeastern English coast, was rammed in a fog in the early morning hours by the SS R. F. Matthews.

A distress call was transmitted to a shore station at South Foreland and help was dispatched.

By 1904 there were many Trans-Atlantic British ships equipped with wireless.

The wireless operators came from the ranks of railroad and postal telegraphers.

In England a general call on the landline wire was a "CQ." "CQ" preceded time signals and special notices.

"CQ" was generally adopted by telegraph and cable stations all over the world.

At the first international congress of wireless telegraphy in 1903, the Italians recommended the use of "SSSDDD" to signal an emergency.

"D" had previously been used internationally as the signal for an urgent message.

The origin of "S" is not known, but it may have come from the first letter of the word ship, indicating a ship in distress.

The sending of "SSSDDD" would signal all other stations to stop sending and leave the channel open for emergency traffic.

Though discussed, it was not adopted.

Deciding on a distress signal was put on the agenda for the next meeting in 1906.

"DDD" would later be adopted for the silent signal, indicating all stations must cease sending.

In 1904, the Marconi company filled the gap by suggesting the use of "CQD" for a distress signal.

It was generally accepted to mean, "Come Quick Danger," that is not the case.

It is a general call, "CQ," followed by "D," meaning distress.

A strict interpretation would be "All stations, Distress."

At the second Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference of 1906, the subject of a distress signal was again addressed.

The distress signal chosen was "SOS." (The American distress signal "NC" for "Call for help without delay" was not adopted, although it remains as the international flag symbol for distress to this day.)

Unfortunately, the 1906 Conference proceedings do not give an account of the discussions nor the origin of SOS.

The proceedings merely specify what the signal will be.

In the Service Regulations Affixed to the International Wireless Telegraph Convention, paragraph 6a, "Signals of Transmission" simply states: "Ships in distress shall use the following signal: ...---... repeated at brief intervals."

There is no mention or reference to SOS meaning “save our souls”.

***

A Mayday situation is one in which a vessel, aircraft, vehicle, or person is in grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance.

Mayday calls can be made on any voice frequency, and when a mayday call is made no other radio traffic is permitted except to assist in the emergency.

A mayday call may only be made when life or craft is in imminent danger of death or destruction.

The "Mayday" distress signal was devised by Frederick Stanley Mockford, born in 1897 in the East Sussex village of Selmeston.

While he was senior radio officer at Croydon airport in 1923, he was asked to think up a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency.

As much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget (Paris) he proposed the word "Mayday" from the French "m'aidez" (to help me).

It was this acknowledgement of a French word that also sounded like an English word that proved acceptable to both the French and English authorities.

***
So what would the Governance Distress Call look (sound?) like?

Firstly is such a Distress Call necessary?

There are two schools of thought here – yes in the sense it allows interested spectators to objectively measure the risk / control environments within differing organisations against a universal measure of distress or success.

No from the perspective that such a measurement process already exists by virtue of (with public companies) the pricing of the underlying stock.

Assuming that the Distress Call is necessary what exactly is it?

Whilst nearly not (OK – not at all close) as romantic as the stories behind SOS and Mayday, Honestly Lay Bare proposes the following as the highest level of Governance Distress Call:

Serious corporate governance, risk management or internal control issue highlighting a realised risk that has resulted in or a potential risk that may lead to substantial losses by the business unit / process being reviewed. Immediate management attention and remedial action is required.

***

To borrow from Victor Hugo … all the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.

This idea’s time has come.

To SOS and Mayday now add GDC – the Governance Distress Call.