Dollar General Issued Four Willful, 10 Repeat Violations After Recent Inspection
OSHA proposed penalties of more than $1.6 million, bringing the company’s total proposed penalties since 2017 to over $9.6 million.
- By Alex Saurman
- Oct 19, 2022
Dollar General’s history of OSHA citations continues after the agency found violations at four more stores in the U.S.
According to a news release, in April 2022, OSHA inspected stores in Mobile, Alabama; Grove Hill, Alabama; Tampa, Florida; and Dewy Rose, Georgia. The news release said that OSHA cited Dollar General "for failing to keep receiving and storage areas clean and orderly, and stacking materials in an unsafe manner," "failing to keep exit routes and electrical panels clear and unobstructed," "failing to mount and label fire extinguishers, and having a locked exit door that required a key to open." For these recent inspections, Dollar General now faces four willful violations, 10 repeat violations and proposed penalties of $1,680,216.
“Once again, our inspectors have found Dollar General stores ignoring federal safety standards and exposing their employees to hazardous working conditions in violation of the law,” Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker said in the news release. “We will use our full enforcement powers to hold Dollar General accountable for its ongoing pattern of behavior until they show that they take worker safety seriously.”
Many other Dollar General stores across the U.S. have been cited for similar violations. In August, OSHA cited Dollar General for unclean receiving areas, unsafe stacked boxes and blocked “exit route and electrical panels” after inspections at three Georgia stores. Just a month before, Dollar General was cited after the agency found exit route hazards at a Pennsylvania store. The same store had been cited for similar citations in 2021. In June, OSHA cited the company for locking emergency exits in an Ohio store and a Wisconsin store.
More than $9.6 million has been proposed in penalties for Dollar General, which has over 18,000 stores in the U.S., since 2017.
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