Dollar General store in Ga. cited by OSHA

Dangerous working conditions could draw $364K fine.

A Dollar General store in northwest Georgia has been federally cited for exposing employees to dangerous working conditions, the latest penalties levied against the discount retailer for similar violations at stores around the country.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed $364,629 in penalties for the violations at the Dollar General store on Beaverdale Road in Dalton.

Federal documents show a citation for stacking boxes and merchandise more than 6 feet high and blocking passageways to the back storage room, where merchandise was allegedly stacked in an “unstable and unsecure manner” and could have fallen onto employees.

Another citation was for obstructing an exit route with products or boxes, “impeding direct means of egress for employees in the event of an emergency.”

Dollar General officials said they “took immediate action to address these issues and reiterated our expectations with the store team.” The company said the “safety of our employees is of paramount importance to us” and that it will continue to work with OSHA to resolve issues.

Goodlettsville, TennDollar.based General Corp. has been cited for similar violations at stores in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to the federal government agency that oversees workplace safety.

“Dollar General’s long and extensive history of workplace safety violations and repeated failures to protect its workers shows willful recklessness,” according to a written statement from OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer, who is based in Atlanta.

OSHA has been citing Dollar General for violations at stores across the nation for years. Along with the Dalton citation, OSHA said in a statement that it also cited similar violations at three stores in Mobile, Ala.

All of the violations cited at the Dalton store were corrected during the inspection, according to OSHA.

The agency is proposing two fines of $136,736 each for the stacked boxes and merchandise, and a $91,157 fine for the obstructed exit route. Dollar General can either pay the fines, contest the citation and penalties, or request a meeting to present its evidence or views to support an adjustment to the fines.

Dollar stores have expanded over the years, becoming popular stops for everyday goods for many shoppers while generating backlash in some jurisdictions including Dekalb County.

A different discount chain, Family Dollar, was the subject of an alert by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month for a rodent infestation at a company warehouse in West Memphis, Arkansas. That prompted Family Dollar to recall some products distributed from that warehouse to stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

DREAMSTIME/TNS Dollar General officials said they “took immediate action” to address the issues raised by OSHA at the company’s Dalton store and “reiterated our expectations with the store team.”