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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has entered into a comprehensive corporate-wide settlement with Dollar General and its retail subsidiaries to enhance workplace safety across its stores nationwide.
“This agreement commits Dollar General to make 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 health and safety,” said Douglas L. Parker, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health. “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.”
Under the agreement, Dollar General will pay $12 million in penalties and implement a series of corporate-wide changes to prioritize employee safety.
The settlement requires Dollar General to establish an expanded safety structure and a robust safety and health management system, including hiring additional safety managers. The company must reduce inventory and increase stocking efficiency to prevent blocked exits and unsafe material storage. Comprehensive safety and health training will be provided to both leadership and non-managerial employees. Additionally, Dollar General will develop a safety and health committee to encourage employee participation.
The agreement also mandates that Dollar General promptly addresses any future violations related to blocked exits, access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels, and improper material storage. The company must correct such hazards within 48 hours and submit proof of correction. Failure to do so will result in monetary penalties of $100,000 per day of violation, up to $500,000, as well as OSHA inspection and enforcement actions.
To comply with the settlement, Dollar General has retained a third-party consultant to identify hazards and analyze contributing factors, and a third-party auditor to conduct annual unannounced compliance audits at all stores. Additionally, a new Safety Operations Center has been established to detect store hazards and support safety performance, and an anonymous hotline has been created for employees and the public to report safety concerns.
Dollar General will monitor the outcomes of these actions and provide quarterly reports to OSHA. This settlement resolves existing and open federal OSHA inspections involving alleged violations such as blocked emergency exits, blocked electrical panels, blocked fire extinguishers, and unsafe storage.
OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Labor. It was created to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education, and assistance. OSHA’s mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths through the enforcement of workplace safety regulations and by offering guidance to both employers and employees.
Based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, Dollar General operates more than 19,000 stores nationwide.