Motorized cart driver safety in assisted living.

When a group of residents at a life care facility purchased motorized carts to move around the 350,000-square-foot facility, staff members were faced with the need to ensure the safety of both drivers and pedestrians. This article describes a safety assessment procedure developed for cart drivers who lived in the assisted living area of the community. Five performance criteria were selected for the safety assessment: the ability to safely moving into and out of the vehicle, demonstrate safe reaction times, take appropriate evasive action to sudden obstructions in the driver's path, turn the vehicle around safely, and park the vehicle without hitting walls or other objects.