The retailer has struggled for years to comply with OSHA safety regulations

The settlement agreement requires Dollar Tree and Family Dollar to conduct a comprehensive, nationwide assessment of the root causes of the violations OSHA has repeatedly cited at multiple stores, with a plan to identify causes and make operational changes to correct them within a two-year period.

OSHA inspections at Dollar General stores commonly find aisles, emergency exits, fire extinguishers and electrical panels blocked by stored merchandise and other materials, and boxes stacked unsafely. 

These hazards and the proposed penalties assessed after these inspections now have the Tennessee-based, Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC facing more than $16 million in fines since 2017.

While it portrays its store chain as “America’s neighborhood general store,” Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC – one of the nation’s largest discount retailers – continues to expose workers to unsafe conditions, this time at four Florida and Georgia stores. 

Soon after federal workplace safety inspectors arrived at a Dollar Tree store in Mount Pleasant, Texas, they found the national discount retailer again shortchanging employee safety – continuing a pattern of disregard dating back to 2017 – by allowing storeroom merchandise to block exits and walkways and stacking boxes high enough to fall on workers.

Just weeks after being cited with federal safety violations, Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC have once again exposed workers to unsafe conditions, this time at two store locations in Florida and another in Alabama.

When federal workplace safety inspectors visited three Dollar General stores in Georgia earlier this year, they found exit routes obstructed, boxes of merchandise stacked unsafely and electrical panels hard to access, violations often cited at Dollar General locations.