Safety for employees at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar locations should improve soon, thanks to a settlement agreement announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Labor. If it doesn’t, the stores could rack up some expensive fines.
According to the department, there have been hundreds of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations discovered at the discount stores (both are owned by Virginia-based Dollar Tree, Inc.) since 2017.
“During these inspections, OSHA routinely find exit routes, fire extinguishers and electrical panels dangerously obstructed or blocked; unsafe walking-working surfaces; and unstable stacks of merchandise,” it said.
As a result of the agreement, the chains – which have a combined footprint of around 16,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada and an estimated 193,000 employees – are required to conduct a nationwide assessment of the root causes of these violations. This assessment is also required to identify operational changes that will be made to correct the issues. Those changes are to be implemented over a two-year period.
“In the meantime, to ensure prompt abatement of any future violations related to blocked exits, access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels, and improper material storage at stores nationwide, the companies must correct hazards — within 48 hours of OSHA notifying them — and later submit proof the hazards were corrected,” said the Wednesday announcement.
“Failure to do so subjects the companies to monetary assessments of $100,000 per day of violation, up to $500,000, as well as OSHA inspection and enforcement actions.”
Already, the companies have agreed to pay $1.35 million in penalties related to similar violations. Previously, they entered into a settlement agreement in 2015, That settlement expired in 2018 and they entered into the new agreement last week and it could last up to two years.
Other aspects of the agreement requirements include: forming safety advisory groups with employee representation, enhancing hazard identification and control programs, developing an audit program, creating a new employee training program and hiring additional safety professionals. Dollar Tree also agreed to maintain a 24-hour complaint hotline
“By securing this agreement with Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, the department is making good on President Biden’s commitment to be the most pro-worker administration in history,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “At the Department of Labor, we know that every worker deserves to come home safe at the end of the workday. Through our robust enforcement of workplace protections and use of innovative legal methods that resulted in this agreement, thousands of workers will have a healthier, safer and more certain future.”
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