Update March 6th, 2020: OSHA quoted Dollar Tree Stores Inc. after further complaints in a Boston store.
For the second time in a week it was found that the national discounter is responsible for numerous recurrence risks.
“OSHA continues to receive complaints about unsafe working conditions in Dollar Tree stores across the country,” said Loren Sweatt, assistant chief secretary of health and safety at work. “Workers should not be exposed to the same hazards previously identified and listed. This employer has a duty to obey laws and regulations that protect workers from injury and death.”
One complaint led to an OSHA investigation into the store, where inspectors discovered clogged exit routes, the risk of hazards from unstable stacks of goods and overcrowded materials, and electrical hazards from blocked work areas around electrical panels.
As a result, Dollar Tree faces fines of $ 523,745. The inspectors cited the retailer with two deliberate and three repeated violations.
March 5th, 2020:
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. continues to put the health and safety of its employees at risk.
The Chesapeake, Virginia-based discounter has again deliberately exposed its employees to the dangers of spillage and storage, this time in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Business.
OSHA inspectors arrived at the site following a complaint the agency received about blocked emergency exits, unsecured pressurized gas cylinders, and unsanitary bathrooms. According to reports, materials were piled unsafe throughout the store and electrical panels were not serviced.
The investigation backed this claim, and Dollar Tree was charged with two deliberate, one repetitive, and two non-serious violations, totaling $ 296,861 in fines.
Dollar Tree operates more than 15,000 stores in 48 states and Canada and employs approximately 176,000 full-time and part-time employees.
OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor Loren Sweatt said OSHA will persist in holding Dollar Tree accountable under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
The company’s willful neglect of employee health and safety goes back more than a decade.
In September 2019, the agency quoted the company for blocked sidewalks and exit routes and unsafe storage of goods at four locations in Idaho. The proposed fines for this case were $ 898,682.
“Dollar Tree Stores has exposed its employees to health and safety risks in the past,” Sweatt previously told the press. “Improper storage of goods poses unnecessary risks for employees, while blocked exits in an emergency pose a serious risk to the safety of employees and customers.”
In October 2019, there were three repeated violations of Dollar Tree. These fines were $ 208,368. Similar violations were identified in 2014 and 2015 at locations in Bronx, Amityville, Lindenhurst, and Yonkers, New York.
In 2015, the retailer landed a company-wide settlement agreement for $ 825,000 based on 13 separate inspections. In that case, the company promised to put in place safeguards to protect workers in Dollar Tree stores across the country from hazards related to blocked fire exits, obstructed access to exit routes and electrical equipment, and improper storage of materials.
Injuries to employees are a direct result of unsafe conditions. Workers have reported being injured by falling boxes because the company intentionally violated safety and health.
Between 2009 and 2014, OSHA received complaints from Dollar Tree employees in 26 states, citing the company for 234 security breaches.
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