The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has reached a corporate-wide settlement with Dollar General and its retail subsidiaries to implement significant workplace safety improvements across stores nationwide.
"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," said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas L. Parker. "These changes help give peace of mind to thousands of workers, knowing that they are not risking their safety in their workplaces and that they will come home healthy at the end of each day."
Dollar General has agreed to pay $12 million in penalties and implement corporate-wide changes prioritizing employee safety. These improvements include:
- Establishing an expanded safety structure and a robust safety and health management system, including hiring additional safety managers.
- Reducing inventory significantly and increasing stocking efficiency to prevent blocked exits and unsafe material storage.
- Providing safety and health training to both leadership and non-managerial employees.
- Developing a safety and health committee while encouraging employee participation.
The agreement also mandates Dollar General ensure prompt abatement of any future violations related to blocked exits, access to fire extinguishers, electrical panels, or improper material storage during the agreement term. The company must correct such hazards generally within 48 hours, submitting proof of correction. Failure to do so subjects Dollar General to monetary assessments of $100,000 per day of violation, up to $500,000, as well as OSHA inspection and enforcement actions.
Dollar General has retained a third-party consultant to identify hazards and analyze enterprise-wide contributing factors; retained a third-party auditor for unannounced compliance audits annually at all covered stores; created a new Safety Operations Center for hazard detection; and maintained an anonymous hotline for reporting safety concerns. These actions are also requirements under the settlement agreement.
The company will monitor outcomes from these actions, providing quarterly reports to OSHA as part of the agreement.
This settlement resolves existing contested as well as open federal OSHA inspections involving alleged violations such as blocked emergency exits, blocked electrical panels, blocked fire extinguishers, and unsafe storage.
Based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, Dollar General operates more than 19,000 stores nationwide.
