Dollar General fined millions for worker safety violations in Alabama

Dollar General is facing millions in fines after federal inspectors found workplace safety violations in multiple stores across the South.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspected stores in several states including Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.

According to OSHA, Dollar General has been fined over $12 million in the past half-decade.

“During the past five years, OSHA found unsafe conditions that expose workers to the possibility of being struck by falling boxes of merchandise or trapped or unable to exit the store safely in an emergency in more than 180 inspections at Dollar General stores nationwide,” OSHA said in a statement last year.

OSHA fined the stores for having excess inventory in the stockroom and on the sales floor, which repeatedly blocked access to fire extinguishers and emergency exits.

The excess inventory also caused stores to stack boxes too high and too close to electric panels.

“Dollar General has shown a pattern of alarmingly willful disregard for federal safety standards, choosing to place profits over their employees’ safety and well-being,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker in a statement. “Neighborhood stores exist to support the needs of their communities—the same communities in which many Dollar General employees live—and that support must include following laws designed to keep workers safe from preventable injuries or worse.”