The settlement agreement requires Dollar Tree and Family Dollar to conduct a comprehensive, nationwide assessment of the root causes of the violations OSHA has repeatedly cited at multiple stores, with a plan to identify causes and make operational changes to correct them within a two-year period.
These hazards and the proposed penalties assessed after these inspections now have the Tennessee-based, Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC facing more than $16 million in fines since 2017.
Just weeks after being cited with federal safety violations, Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC have once again exposed workers to unsafe conditions, this time at two store locations in Florida and another in Alabama.
There are a number of best practices that an employer should follow when faced with any OSHA inspection. Like most best practices, they start with advanced planning so that everyone is prepared when the inspector shows up.
Doug Parker, the former head of Cal/OSHA nominated by President Biden on April 9, 2021, to lead federal OSHA, steps into the most pressurized and politicized atmosphere in the agency’s 50-year history.
Facility safety inspections are important for all businesses, regardless of their size. The objective of these internal audits is to identify hazards, monitor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, and ensure that corrective actions are taken appropriately.
Federal workplace safety and health inspectors will focus on sites such as hospitals and other health-care facilities where there is a high risk of coronavirus infection and specific complaints have been filed, OSHA said in its latest guidance.
Many of the OSHA cases that cite “willful” violations present mysteries. The mysteries are why the alleged violations were categorized as willful. These charges are not a mystery to OSHA, but they are mysteries to readers of citations. Since the penalty for a willful violation can be over $130,000, there should not be any mystery about such charges.
In OSHA’s 48-year-old history, the agency has experienced desperate hours on a regular schedule. The agency opened its door in 1971. Before the decade was out a “STOP OSHA” lobbying movement was underway. In 1979, Republican Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania proposed an “OSHA Improvements Act” which would have exempted from inspections all employers, large or small, regardless of industry, with good safety records. It was defeated in 1980.
