OSHA fines Dollar General $83,000 for ‘serious' violations

CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — A metro Atlanta Dollar General store is facing more than $80,000 in fines after officials say they found several alarming violations.

Channel 2’s Craig Lucie went to the store in Carroll County Thursday, where he found out it is not the only store that has faced similar repeated violations.

Dollar General stores across the nation have received more than 40 violations after 70 inspections since 2009. But the store in Carroll County is the one that recently received a hefty fine.

“Four violations, three repeat violations, one of them serious for a total of $83,050,” said Christie Griffin.

Griffin is the director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration Atlanta-West Area Office.

She says when one of her teams went inside the Bowdon, Georgia store, they found multiple, serious violations.

“Continually exposing their workers to the hazards, blocked exits, locked exits, blocked electrical panels have been found throughout their corporation nationwide. They seem to have not taken the message to all of their workers in protecting them,” said Griffin.

They are all violations that OSHA says are extremely dangerous for their employees and customers, especially when it comes to the emergency exits.

“Electric fire is the worst fire you can have, and somewhere where you shop every day is not good,” said Tay Jones, who is a Dollar General customer.

Lucie went to speak with a manager inside the store, but the manager referred him to the corporate office. The office sent him a statement that reads, in part:

"Dollar General is committed to providing a safe work environment for its employees and safe shopping experience for its customers. As such, Dollar General employs a number of policies, procedures and training programs to continually educate store teams to promote and facilitate a safe and welcoming environment.

Dollar General is taking immediate actions to address and remedy cited violations at our store in  Bowdon,  Georgia  and  look  forward  to  scheduled  discussions  in  early  April  to  review  the citation with OSHA officials.

Dollar  General  is  further  working  with  all  store  teams  throughout  the  43  states  we  serve  to provide  additional  training  on  safety  protocol  measures  to  reinforce  the  company's  safety policies and prevent any future violations. Dollar General is committed to providing a safe work environment for its employees and safe shopping experience for its customers. As such, Dollar General employs a number of policies, procedures and training programs to continually educate store teams to promote and facilitate a safe and welcoming environment.

Dollar General is taking immediate actions to address and remedy cited violations at our store in  Bowdon,  Georgia  and  look  forward  to  scheduled  discussions  in  early  April  to  review  the citation with OSHA officials.

Dollar  General  is  further  working  with  all  store  teams  throughout  the  43  states  we  serve  to provide  additional  training  on  safety  protocol  measures  to  reinforce  the  company's  safety policies and prevent any future violations."

WSBTV