Dollar General Makes Federal Severe Violator Worker Safety List

Dollar General Corp. this week joined more than 400 other employers on the federal government’s “severe violator” watch list.

The recent decision by OSHA to cite four Dollar General stores in the Southeast for more than a dozen alleged violations, carrying proposed fines of $1.68 million, triggered the “severe violator” designation, allowing OSHA to inspect any Dollar General store where it has jurisdiction. Dollar General has more than 18,100 stores across the US with about 163,000 employees. Its fiscal year 2021 revenue was $34.2 billion.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration also has frequently inspected two other national chains of small discount stores, Dollar Tree Inc. and Family Dollar, and handed the chains six-figure fines, but neither has reached severe violator status.

Common OSHA violations at all three chains include storage area exit rows blocked by boxes, inaccessible fire extinguishers, high-voltage electrical panels blocked by boxes, and not keeping storage areas in an orderly condition.

Before the severe violator designation, almost all Dollar General inspections were prompted by workers’ complaints, agency enforcement records showed. Now, OSHA can open an inspection without waiting for someone to contact the agency.

“We will use our full enforcement powers to hold Dollar General accountable for its ongoing pattern of behavior until they show that they take worker safety seriously,” OSHA Assistant Secretary Doug Parker said in a statement Monday.

Dollar General didn’t immediately respond to a request to discuss the severe violator inclusion.

What is Severe?

Although Dollar General had already racked up dozens of violations and faced proposed fines totaling $9.6 million in the past five years, the violations previously didn’t qualify the company as a severe violator.

The severe violator program, started in 2010, was focused on industries that OSHA considered to be especially dangerous such as construction, chemical production, metal smelting, mail delivery, and oil and gas production.

Worker advocates criticized the agency for limiting the designation to those industries while letting companies in other fields off the hook.

OSHA on Sept. 15 revised its requirements for the severe violator program, expanding it to include any employer with multiple willful and repeat violations.

“Even if it is not a high-hazard industry, it is a high-hazard workplace,” Parker said when announcing the new criteria.

Employers can get off the list in two years if they implement an “enhanced settlement agreement” that includes use of a safety and health management system that follows OSHA recommendations.

Otherwise, it takes at least three years once the employer has corrected the cited hazards and hasn’t been cited for new violations for the same hazards.

Employers can also leave the list by appealing the citations to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and convincing a judge or federal official to dismiss or reduce the violations that earned the severe violator designation.

Of the approximately 400 employers on the severe violator list, many are construction companies with less than 250 employees.

Among the large employers to have been hit with the severe violator designation are Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., Bombardier Inc., the US Postal Service, Republic Steel, Tampa Electric, and the US Veterans Health Administration.