Dollar Tree Agrees to Improve Safety and Pay $1.35M in Fines: OSHA

Dollar Tree Inc. and subsidiary Family Dollar have entered an agreement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to make operational changes within two years.

The Department of Labor’s OSHA said it has cited the stores throughout the U.S. multiple times for safety violations such as blocked exits, improper material storage, and access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels. As part of the deal, the companies in the future will correct hazards within 48 hours, and submit proof to OSHA or face fines of up to $500,000.

Dollar Tree and Family Dollar have also agreed to pay $1.35 million in penalties to settle existing violations that were either contested or being inspected. First-quarter gross profit at Dollar Tree was about $2.2 billion, according to a company press release, on net sales of about $7.3 billion. The company expects net sales for fiscal year 2023 to be about $30 billion, it said. Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree Inc. operates more than 16,000 Dollar Tree and Family Dollar locations in 48 states and five Canadian provinces.

OSHA said Dollar Tree will form safety advisory groups with extensive employee representation, enhance hazard identification and control programs, develop an audit program, create a new employee training program, and hire additional safety professionals.

“We know that every worker deserves to come home safe at the end of the workday,” said Julie Su, action secretary of labor. “Through our robust enforcement of workplace protections and use of innovative legal methods that resulted in this agreement, thousands of workers will have a healthier, safer and more certain future.”

In a June press release announcing fines for repeat violations against a Family Dollar location in Texas, OSHA officials said hazards were a “recurring theme,” and that safety conditions presented “potential for tragic consequences.” In another June press release to announce hazardous conditions at stores in Rhode Island, OSHA said its federal and state programs identified over 300 violations in over 500 inspections at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores since 2017.

OSHA said Dollar Tree has also agreed to maintain a 24-hour hotline to receive safety complaints, establish a system to ensure complaints are addressed, and hold quarterly meetings with OSHA to discuss progress with improvements.

Dollar Tree Inc. first entered a settlement with OSHA in 2015 but that agreement ended in 2018. Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said the new agreement was made “because these companies had already taken substantial steps to address the systemic issues, which gave us confidence that this innovative approach would work.”

“Our company is in the midst of a business transformation, and at the heart of it all is our continued focus on safety for our more than 200,000 associates,” said Mike Creedon, chief operating officer at Dollar Tree, Inc., in a statement. “We are implementing substantial safety policies, procedures, and training, all intended to safeguard the wellbeing of our associates. We appreciate the opportunity to engage with OSHA on our safety initiatives as we move forward, seeking to establish our position as a leading retailer in workplace safety.”