Dollar General was fined last month for barricading an emergency exit door in the back room of a store in Jonestown, Pennsylvania with a metal bar.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Dollar General for repeat violations for blocking electrical panels and failing to maintain a clear path to an emergency exit door.
“Dollar General continues its pattern of failing to maintain safe exit routes at its stores,” said Dave Olah, area director of OSHA’s Harrisburg Area Office. “Despite receiving more than one hundred safety and health violations at stores nationwide since 2010, which carried more than $1 million in proposed fines, the company has still failed to take corrective actions.”
OSHA fined the company $215,578.
Headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, the company operates more than 12,500 stores in 43 states and employs about 100,000 workers.
In fiscal 2015, the retailer recorded sales of $20.4 billion.
Dollar General has put plans for a store ten miles south of Berkeley Springs on hold in the face of community opposition.
A company spokesperson says that a decision will be made soon on whether to move forward with the store.
Last week, Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer representing citizens in the community who believe the store would best be established in a location other than the intersection of Oakland Road and Route 522, wrote to Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos.
“As a sound and responsible business dedicated to serving community needs, it would appear most constructive if the company would engage in dialogue with the community as to the appropriate location for this business,” Hausfeld wrote. “There are viable options along the same corridor which would be consistent with the company’s objectives and the community’s best interests.”
“As the company may become a new member of the community, the present members of the community would like to meet to discuss this matter of mutual concern and potential benefit,” Hausfeld wrote. “In light of the expressed imminence of your decision we eagerly await an early reply.”