Challenges and Facilitating Factors to Implement Water Safety Plans: a Systematic Review

Abstract

Purpose: We aim to identify the factors that facilitated or difficult the implementation of Water Safety Plans (WSP) worldwide. Method: Systematic survey at Web of Science and Scopus database. The final analysis of the papers involved the extraction and analysis of the metadata, with the aid of the software R, spreadsheets and iramuteq 0.7 alpha 2. Results and conclusion: The main challenges to implement safety plans are teamwork, timeframe management, documentation and registration of information, financial issues, understanding the importance of the WSP and lack of commitment of high-level directors. The factors that facilitate WSP implementation are teamwork, adaptation to local reality, existence of previous conditions and plans already implemented, financial support and positive commitment of high-level directors. Some factors may affect the implementation of WSP positively or negatively, such as financial issues; the support of high-level directors to implement the project; and similar practices and plans already in execution. The most cited direct benefits of the implementation of WSP were safer water; improvement in the registration of information; improvement in team communication; more efficient and active management of the services; and increase in the team’s self-confidence. Research implications: The planning and preparation steps of WSP must include strategies to overcome the main challenges. Some factors may affect the implementation of WSP positively or negatively, such as financial issues; the support of high-level directors to implement the project; and similar practices and plans already in execution. Originality/value: This paper contributes with a general overview of the challenges and facilitators in the WSP examples available in scientific papers, which may help future success implementation of WSP and to avoid usual mistakes in this plan.