Dollar General store #13229 in Jonestown, Pa. is the latest location that demonstrates Dollar General’s six-year failure to take corrective actions to ensure employee and customer safety at its locations.
On Oct. 18, 2016, OSHA issued citations for one willful and two repeat safety violations after an inspection on April 18, 2016 initiated because of an employee complaint.
The agency cited a willful violation after inspectors found the discount retailer barricaded an emergency exit door in the back room with a metal bar.
The repeat violations once again involved blocked electrical panels and the company's failure to maintain a clear path to an emergency exit door near the break room and manager’s office. This time, proposed penalties total $215,578.
Blocked exit routes are a common theme across Dollar General locations. The repeat violation for breaking OSHA’s 1910.37 rule referenced stores in Prairie Grove, Ark.; El Dorado, Ark., Covington, Ga. and Bethany Beach, Del. which were also the subject of OSHA inspections.
In September, OSHA issued citations to Dollar General after inspections at the company’s Ohio and Missouri locations resulted in the discovery of blocked emergency exits, unmarked fire extinguisher locations and blocked electrical panels.
At the retailer’s Bolivar, Ohio location, $156,772 in fines were assessed. Just a couple weeks before this, OSHA issued the company $97,988 on similar violations at its Van Buren, Mo. store.
"Dollar General continues its pattern of failing to maintain safe exit routes at its stores,” said Dave Olah, area director of OSHA's Harrisburg Area Office in a statement. “Despite receiving more than 100 safety and health violations at stores nationwide since 2010, which carried more than $1 million in proposed fines, the company has still failed to take corrective actions."