Dollar General Stores Cited by OSHA for Padlocking Emergency Exits

• OSHA cited two Greenback Standard stores for padlocking their unexpected emergency exits. 
• The company proposed $580,000 in fines across the two retailers, found in Ohio and Wisconsin.
• This follows a pattern of Dollar Basic suppliers obstructing entry to unexpected emergency exits, OSHA claimed.

Two Greenback Typical outlets have been cited by a US federal agency for padlocking their crisis exits. 

Inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Overall health Administration (OSHA) also claimed other violations, including obstructed entry to a fireplace extinguisher.

OSHA has beforehand cited other Dollar Standard outlets for similar violations.

OSHA inspected a shop in Baldwin, Wisconsin in December 2021 in reaction to a referral from neighborhood hearth officials and uncovered the crisis exit doorways had been closed and padlocked on the inside “with a bike lock and a board,” that means folks would have required a critical to go away. The exit was also blocked by packing containers of products, OSHA stated.

These conditions would have prevented workers and clients from working with the exits in the circumstance of an emergency, according to OSHA, a division of the Section of Labor.

Keep managers instructed OSHA that the doors have been “routinely padlocked and blocked with a board” simply because they were broken and needed repairs to close correctly. The shop experienced permitted the doorways to “continue to be in disrepair” considering that September 2021, OSHA claimed.

In addition, the store’s moveable hearth extinguisher had been blocked with containers of merchandise, OSHA mentioned.

OSHA claimed that fire officials had inspected the keep 11 moments in 2021 and experienced purchased the facility to near 6 moments owing to what OSHA explained as “dangerous conditions.”

OSHA issued 4 willful citations versus the retail store and proposed combined penalties of $435,081.

A different Dollar Typical retailer in Seville, Ohio had put barrel locks on a double-doorway emergency exit, OSHA identified in an inspection in January. The retailer was cited for a person willful violation and OSHA proposed $145,027 in penalties.

A Greenback Standard spokesperson instructed Insider that the two merchants inspected by OSHA “were being not in preserving with our standards and expectations.”

“Immediately adhering to these inspections, we took action to handle challenges and reiterated our expectations with the retail outlet teams,” the spokesperson explained. “The safety of our personnel and prospects is of paramount value to us, and we will continue on to function cooperatively with OSHA to solve any issues.”

Since 2016, OSHA has proposed much more than $4 million in penalties at Greenback Basic stores nationwide, with lots of of the citations related to obstructed obtain to unexpected emergency exits. A single retailer in Missouri was cited in 2016 following inspectors uncovered a “5-foot high, 15-foot long pile of trash” blocking an emergency exit.

“OSHA cites Greenback General suppliers commonly for exposing workers to really serious dangers, like the use of locks at exits, which can be catastrophic in an unexpected emergency,” William Donovan, OSHA’s regional administrator in Chicago, reported in a assertion.

“This company’s willingness to gamble with workers’ life is disturbing and have to prevent ahead of tragedy strikes.”