OSHA cites Dollar Tree
Stores for exposing workers to serious hazards for second time in Delaware. Inspectors
witness New Castle, Delaware, worker struck by falling boxes, issue $103K fine
NEW CASTLE, Del. – North American
discount chain Dollar Tree Stores Inc. has been cited for the second time in Delaware since late 2013 by the U.S.
Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration after
inspectors saw an employee struck by falling boxes during a visit to its New
Castle store in June 2014. For willfully and repeatedly exposing workers to
serious hazards there, OSHA has proposed penalties totaling $103,000.
The incident is the latest on a long list of violations for
which Dollar Tree Stores, headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, has been
cited. As of October 2014, OSHA has issued more than $800,000 in fines to
Dollar Tree Stores for the same or similar violations. In October 2013, three
employees were injured at a Wilmington store by falling boxes.
"The continued complaints and subsequent OSHA inspections
demonstrate Dollar Tree's disregard for worker safety. The company has not
addressed hazards we see repeatedly nationwide. Dollar Tree continues to make
sizable profits at the expense of exposing workers to serious injuries,"
said Erin G. Patterson, OSHA's area director in Wilmington.
Since 2009, OSHA has received complaints from its employees in
26 states and has cited the company for 234 safety violations. These violations
include willful violations found during 2014 inspections in Delaware,
Massachusetts and Montana. Dollar Tree employs approximately 87,400 full-time
and part-time workers at more than 5,200 discount stores across the U.S. and
Canada.
During the recent Delaware inspection, OSHA inspectors saw
overhead boxes fall on an employee and cited Dollar Tree for one willful
violation for improperly stored boxes. The violation carries a $70,000 penalty.
A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary
disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker
safety and health.
In addition, one repeated violation, with a penalty of $33,000,
was cited for failure to keep the work area around electrical panels clear. A
repeated violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the
same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any
other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.
View the citations at http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/DollarTreeStoreInc2220_983776.pdf*
Dollar Tree has 15 business days from receipt of its citations
to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's Wilmington Area Office,
or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety
and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a
complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing
imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at
800-321- OSHA (6742) or the agency's Wilmington Area Office at 302-573-6518.
Under the Occupational Safety and
Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and
healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these
conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards,
and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.