Dollar Tree Stores Inc., the owner of Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores, received a citation for putting workers at risk of fire, entrapment and struck-by hazards at its Richmond Hill, Ga., facility.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration discovered the business did not maintain evacuation paths free of goods and cartons, according to a Dec. 2 news release.
“This has to stop before someone is seriously hurt or unable to exit safely in an emergency,” Savannah OSHA Acting Area Director Jerred Stevens said, according to the release.
Compressed gas cylinders were left unsecured, putting them in danger of falling over, and boxes of merchandise unsafely stacked were at risk of falling onto workers, the release reported.
OSHA issued citations for four repeat violations and a proposal of $364,645, according to the release.
“Family Dollar and its parent company, Dollar Tree Stores Inc., continue to discount the safety of its employees and others for the sake of profits by unsafely storing merchandise," Stevens added, according to the release. “Time and time again, we find the company overfilling its storerooms and allowing merchandise to block aisles and emergency exits."
