OSHA says recent safety violations at 4 Dollar General stores illustrate the discount retailer's 'long history' of endangering workers

• Four Dollar General stores were inspected by OSHA in August 2021, and 8 violations were found.
• OSHA is responsible for worker safety and is part of the Department of Labor.

Federal inspections into four Dollar General retail locations last summer "found the nationwide discount retailer's long history of exposing employees to dangerous working conditions continues," according to a press release from the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Thursday.

It's the latest in a series of OSHA penalties for the company since 2016, the release added. Since that year, OSHA has proposed over $3.6 million in penalties over 55 inspections at Dollar General stores throughout the US, the release said.

OHSA conducted the investigations last August into Dollar General locations in Alabama and Georgia. In Alabama, OSHA inspectors found five "willful violations" -- which means that the employer knowingly didn't follow a rule or acted with "plain indifference" to employee safety – at three stores in Mobile.

The violations were for not keeping areas where inventory comes in "clean and orderly" and for "stacking materials in an unsafe manner – hazards which expose workers to slips, trips and being struck-by objects," the release said.

It added the stores did not keep exit routes and spaces around electrical panels clear enough, creating fire risk.

In Dalton, Georgia, OSHA cited a location for similar violations, one "willful" and one "repeat"-- ie, the entity has been penalized for a relatively similar violation before within a certain time period.

OSHA proposed $$683,680 in penalties for the Alabama stores and $364,629 in penalties for the Georgia store.

Dollar General has 15 business days to pay and comply, talk with a local OSHA area director, or dispute the findings in front of OSHA's Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, which acts to independently resolve disputes around OSHA penalties.

"Their blatant and continued disregard for the safety of their employees must come to an end. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will make every effort to hold them accountable for their failures," OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer said in the release.

In an emailed statement by Dollar General, the company said:

In August 2021, OSHA conducted an inspection in four of our (then) nearly 18,000 stores – three in Mobile, Alabama and one in Dalton, Georgia – and identified store conditions that were not in keeping with our standards and expectations. Following these inspections, we took immediate action to address these issues and reiterated our expectations with these store teams.

The safety of our employees is of paramount importance to us, and we take issue with any statement to the contrary. We will continue to work cooperatively with OSHA to resolve these matters.