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As professional engineers, our first mandate is to “safeguard life, health, and property and to promote the public health”. While there are many well designed and operated tailing facilities, there are others that are not. In most cases the reason they are not is that those responsible are not performing to the standards of their profession. In many of these cases professionals are letting cost govern the decision making process in lieu of prudent and responsible practice. While protecting the owner’s interests and investment and providing cost effective designs is a significant part of the design process, as responsible professionals this must be secondary to fulfilling our mission of protecting the health and safety of the public. It requires each of us at a minimum to meet the measure of performing to the standard of care normally practiced by those working in the industry. It will require each of us, from time to time, to “place our job on the line” in holding to meet those minimal standards when the limits are tested by overly aggressive cost cutters. It will also require each of us to develop an understanding of what the requirements are and work to be sure that the minimum standards of commonly accepted practice are being met. Owners, operators, designers, and regulators all need to fulfill their roles in this process to achieve the goal a “zero failures or incidents”.