Dam safety is crucial to ensure the long-term sustainability and the multiple benefits of dam projects, and is the primary condition for acceptance of dams by civil society. Dam failures worldwide continue to be too numerous, and the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) has recently issued a ‘World declaration on Dam Safety’ [ICOLD, 20191] and declared dam safety the highest priority of the organization. This paper looks into dam safety aspects at different phases of the project lifecycle, and from different stakeholder perspectives, and analyses dam failure records to understand where gaps can be found, in relation to both new dams and the rehabilitation of existing dams.