Dollar General Corp. has agreed with the U.S. regulator for a corporate-wide settlement over safety allegations. The discount store operator will pay $12 million in penalties under the settlement, and agreed to make significant workplace safety improvements in stores across the United States. These include new safety protocols, hiring of more safety staff, and a significant reduction in store inventory to avoid obstructed exits.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA has entered into a settlement with the Dollar General and its retail subsidiaries for making corporate-wide changes to make the safety of its employees a priority.
The settlement agreement resolves existing contested as well as open federal OSHA inspections involving alleged violations such as blocked emergency exits, electrical panels, fire extinguishers, and unsafe storage.
As per the settlement, the retailer is required to identify the issues and correct them within 48 hours, and the failure to do so will result in $100,000 per day of violation, up to $500,000, as well as OSHA inspection and enforcement actions.
Dollar General, which operates more than 19,000 stores nationwide, has now agreed to establish and maintain an expanded safety structure and a safety and health management system, including hiring additional safety managers.
It will significantly reduce inventory and increase stocking efficiency to prevent blocked exits and unsafe material storage; and also will provide safety and health training to both leadership and non-managerial employees.
The Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based company also is required to develop a safety and health committee and encourage employee participation.
The agreement also requires Dollar General to ensure prompt abatement of any future violations related to blocked exits, access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels, and improper material storage at its stores during the agreement term.
Dollar General retained a third-party consultant to identify hazards and analyze enterprise-wide contributing factors, and a third-party auditor to perform unannounced compliance audits annually at all covered stores.
The company created new Safety Operations Center to detect store hazards and support safety performance, and maintained its anonymous hotline for employees and the public to report safety concerns.
Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas Parker said, \"This agreement commits Dollar General to making worker safety a priority by implementing significant and systematic changes in its operations to improve accountability and compliance, and it gives Dollar General employees essential input on ensuring their own health and safety.\"
Dollar General reportedly has failed hundreds of government safety inspections since 2017, and has faced more than $25 million in proposed fines for alleged violations.