Tailings Dams Fundamentals: Engineer of Record – Terms of Reference Development and Use

The CDA/USSD Tailings Dams Joint Working Group on Engineer of Record (EOR) will present a short course on developments related to the Terms of Reference (TOR) for EOR services for tailings dams. The TOR details the requirements, responsibilities, and obligations of the EoR and the mine owner (Owner) that engages the EoR. It is essential to the EoR/Owner relationship to clearly define the roles and expectations to set the team up for success.

Each tailings dam is unique and, as it would follow, each TOR is equally unique. This short course will provide general guidance on what should be included in a TOR for EOR services, and the session will show examples of how the TOR benefits both owners and consultants.

Example benefits include clearly defined lines of communication, appropriate battery limits, responsibilities during emergency response, and planning for conflict resolution. The TOR framework can be applied to all EOR models (internal owner EOR and external consultant EOR) and all styles of facilities (active, inactive, and closed).

Participants will leave the short course with tools and examples to help them develop a new TOR, or review and evaluate how robust an existing TOR is.