INSPECTION AT DOLLAR GENERAL STORE IN COLUMBUS FINDS FAMILIAR HAZARDS, DANGERS AS COMPANY CONTINUES TO EXPOSE WORKERS, VIOLATE FEDERAL LAW.
The sentence above is the actual title of a Nov 22, 2022 news release by the US Department of Labor. Dollar General is again found to be in violation of federal law. It seems that Dollar General just won't quit putting its workers' safety at risk.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Area Director Larry Johnson says,
“Dollar General Corp.’s willingness to avoid its legal responsibility for the safety of its employees is difficult to understand"...“Time and time again, we find the company overfilling its storerooms and allowing merchandise to block aisles and emergency exits, and be stacked high over the heads of many workers. These are conditions that endanger workers during the normal course of business and create the potential for disaster in an emergency.”
Let's unpack this a little bit. Dollar General has violations for:
- Overfilling storerooms
- Merchandise blocking aisles and emergency exits
- Merchandise stacked high over the heads of workers
According to the government, these violations are not a one-off thing instead they are repeat violations and have led to the company being fined more than $15 million since 2017.
The release goes on to say,
In its inspections of Dollar General stores, OSHA typically finds workers exposed to the risks of being struck by boxes of unsafely stacked or stored merchandise, unable to safely use storeroom aisles and emergency exits, and in danger of hazards caused by merchandise blocking electrical panels.
Inspection at Columbus Store
At this particular inspection OSHA found that Dollar General was:
- Not keeping the storeroom clean, orderly and in sanitary condition.
- Not storing material safely.
- Failing to use exit signs in storeroom to ensure the ability to exit safely in an emergency.
- Failing to mount fire extinguishers.
The store was found to have 4 repeated safety violations and as a result it was fined $341,000. If you would like to see The Citation of Notification and Penalty for yourself it can be accessed using this link.
What are your thoughts on this latest Dollar General Violation of Federal Law? Please let me know what you think in the comments below.
Author's Note: Information in this article is sourced from corporate posts, media reports, news outlets, social media, and internet sources. Specific information linked in this article is attributed to the following sources: the US Department of Labor, Citation and Notification of Penalty and osha.gov.
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