View of a Dollar General food market on March 16, 2023 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
General Dollar was found again in violation of federal workplace safety regulations for “deliberately exposing” staff to fireplace hazards at a Pennsylvania store, the Department of Labor said Friday.
Investigators found “dangerous safety hazards,” including blocked emergency exits and electrical panels, at a store in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, during a November inspection that began with a grievance filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The threats were just like violations found at other discounter-operated stores across the US, and the inspection is considered one of greater than 180 investigations where OSHA found Dollar General compromised worker safety, DOL said.
In response, a spokesperson for Dollar General told CNBC that they “review and improve our security programs regularly and strengthen them through training, ongoing communication, recognition and accountability.”
“Once we turn out to be aware of situations where we have now didn’t deliver on this commitment, we work to resolve the problem in a timely manner and be sure that the corporate’s security expectations are clearly communicated, understood and implemented,” the spokesperson added.
The corporate, which operates around 18,000 stores nationwide and employs greater than 150,000 employees, has been fined $15 million for security breaches since 2017.
“Exposing employees to those hazards might be dangerous, especially in an emergency,” OSHA Regional Director Mary Reynolds said in an announcement. “Dollar General Corp. has a wealthy history of the identical breaches and threats present in stores across the USA. They have to end repeated failures to correct these breaches before the emergency becomes dire.”
Last week, OSHA reported that Dollar General was in settlement talks with federal regulators after the vendor was found to be a “serious violator” of workplace safety rules. Dollar General was the primary company to be added to the list of “serious violations” last fall after OSHA expanded the reach of considered one of its long-running security enforcement programs.
For problems at a Pennsylvania store, OSHA issued a subpoena for one willful violation and one repeat violation with proposed penalties of $245,544, however the fines are unlikely to have a big impact on the retailer’s balance sheet.
In fiscal 2022, which ended Feb. 3, Dollar General reported sales of $37.84 billion and net income of $2.41 billion.
The corporate has 15 business days to pay the tremendous, request a casual conference with the regional director of OSHA, or challenge the findings with an independent Occupational Health and Safety Review Board.