Golf carts are no longer available to escort passengers and can only be used by certified faculty and the Sheriff’s department after a new district wide policy was announced in Pierce College Council on March 24.
The new policy was created on March 17 due to one ADA accommodation request by a faculty member at another college, according to an email from Vice President of Administration Services Rolf Schleicher.
Transport of injured persons on the campus are unable to physically support themselves and are usually helped by third party ambulatory services.
“We don’t give people rides in the carts because the policy is prohibiting us, the carts are basically made for classified staff that have jobs that require them like gardeners or custodials staff,” Schleicher said.
Schleicher said that the few administration that are eligible to drive the golf carts need to be certified.
“We have to look at the policy more carefully, none of our college’s in our district have ever had carts for emergency transportation,” Schleicher said. “In fact if someone gets injured we are supposed to call the ambulance.”
Schleicher is looking into purchasing additional insurance if senior staff and the President agree, so they can provide extra coverage because it’s something they’re not funded for.
Accreditation is part of it, for all nine colleges in the district they’re making sure the policy and procedures are well structured to get the information out with a lot more focus on insurance and liability.
“We have board policy and then they crit regulations from that and the regulations help us manage from the board policy more specific,” Schleicher said. “I just want to make sure everyone was aware it was changing, I wasn’t a part of the decision process, how to implement that policy unfortunately.”
The Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees issued the district policy. The ESC Risk manager, David Serrano highlighted and stated that the campus carts are for operational employees and a few in administration who are certified to use them in the course of their job duties, and no longer for escorting passengers.
The campus was in the process of replacing golf carts due to the high cost of fixing old units and lack of vendor available parts.
Administration who are allowed to operate the golf carts are required to take a class and be certified, which was enforced by Schleicher since he came into office in 2012.
The policy is still in discussion but only authorized personnel are able to use the golf carts, according to Sheriff’s Station team leader Alfred Guerrero,
“It’s not my call, It was a district policy,” Guerrero said. “I’m just trying to abide by guidelines.”
Schleicher said the Sheriff’s office is consistently asked for rides from people on campus and must deny them for liability reasons.
Guerrero said cadets who are authorized to operate a golf cart need to go through the same training as the faculty in order to drive them.
“Every injury we get called out, the Sheriff’s department gets called out, to ensure the safety and wellness,” Guerrero said. “That’s why you see all the fire trucks here all the time. I’m not a doctor. I call the professionals.”
Pierce College faculty were unaware this was an issue until they received the policy from Deputy Guerrero.
Public Relations Manager Doreen Clay uses the golf carts to go to meetings and is aware of the policy but is uncertain if it has been established since she continues to see other advisors escorting passengers.
“I’m a cart user, but I haven’t been officially informed,” Clay said. “I didn’t attend the PCC meeting, so It’s not clear.”
Student Health Center Director Beth Benne is concerned that the new policy will prevent her from escorting injured students around campus to the health center.
“I find it absurd that if a student sprained their ankle in lot 7 and has to be transported to the emergency room via the paramedics,” Benne said. “When less than five minutes by the golf cart by the cadets would bring them to the health center and we could take care of it.”
The Student Health Center has a golf cart but only one key that is shared between other authorized personnel at the Health Center who took the training, according to Benne.
“According to this memo that just came out, you can’t transport anybody, authorized personnel is just the driver, I can only take myself,” Benne said.“I wasn’t asked if this impacts us and the students.”
The Student Health Center uses the golf cart to transport laptops and projectors for classrooms presentations but the policy will prevent them from escorting passengers.
“His [Deputy Guerrero] office and the cadets were able to transport minorly injured students to the health center, they can’t anymore,” Benne said. “What if a student gets seriously injured, am I going to have to call the ambulance to bring them to the health center.”
Benne said the training that advisors attend is to learn how to use golf carts and to get certified.
“You go to a class that tells you how the break works, the acceleration, how to turn it on and off, how the charge works and how to wear a seatbelt,” Benne said.
“Many times when change occurs, an incident happens somewhere in the district, that leads to injury, maybe lawsuit, something that makes the district create a policy but doesn’t necessary consider the fallout of that new policy.” Benne said. “We have to find that new medium.”
Schleicher said they [administration] have been trying to start this strict policy for a long time and are authorizing it from now on.
“The goal was never to have a transportation vehicle for the health center or athletics because again, we don’t have that liability coverage,” Schleicher said.
