OSHA inspection finds Mississippi Dollar General store continues to expose workers to safety hazards despite recent citations, penalties

Employer name: Dollar General Corp.

Inspection site: 34300 Mississippi Highway 35, Vaiden, Mississippi 39176

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to the employer on April 8 for four repeated and one serious safety violation.

Inspection findings: The agency cited Dollar General for repeatedly exposing workers to fire hazards by blocking emergency exits and fire extinguishers with merchandise and utility carts. Additionally, the employer failed to perform annual inspections on fire extinguishers and did not keep the area around electrical outlets unobstructed. OSHA cited the company for the same violations at Brooklyn, Mississippi and West Milford, West Virginia stores in November 2014.

The serious citation is related to exposing employees to electrical hazards from missing faceplates on electrical outlets.

Quote: “We are finding violations that have been repeatedly cited at other Dollar General locations throughout the U.S. The company has failed to implement and verify that the necessary corrective actions have been taken to remove these hazards and protect their workers at these locations,” said Eugene Stewart, OSHA’s area director in the Jackson Office. “Unfortunately Dollar General has not made employee safety a priority, leaving its workers unnecessarily exposed to serious injury or death.”

Proposed penalties: $107,620

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/DollarGeneralCorporation_1105836_0408_16.pdf

Since November 2010, OSHA has inspected Dollar General stores 55 times and issued 155 citations. Blocked exits and electrical panels and improperly maintained fire extinguishers were among the violations found.

Headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, Dollar General is a discount retailer with more than 100,000 employees in 12,000 store locations in 43 states nationwide. Workers are typically engaged in stocking shelves and selling merchandise. The employer has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint; or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Jackson Area Office at 601-965-4606.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.