Quest for reliability of hydraulic runners is a concern for all mature electricity producers. The fatigue damage caused by dynamics loads is frequently the root cause of runner failure. This paper presents the damage tolerance approach based on fracture mechanics as the method chosen by Alstom and Hydro-Qu$acute{e}$bec to predict effects of damage on runner lifetime and consequently to be use as a design method. This is sustained by a research on fracture mechanics properties of runner materials and by recommendations on the strategy to define a safety margin for design. The acquired knowledge permits to identify potential improvement of the runner lifetime without significant cost increase, like being more specific on some chemical composition or heat treatment.