VAN ZANDT COUNTY, Texas — The U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday that a North Texas Family Dollar store endangered employees by allowing blocked storeroom exits, walkways and unsafely stacked boxes.
The department said its safety inspectors arrived at a Family Dollar store in southeast Van Zandt County in December 2022 and noticed the violations. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued citations to Family Dollar Stores of Texas LLC, a subsidiary of Dollar Tree Inc., for three repeat violations and proposed $294,657 in penalties, federal officials said in a release.
The findings in this inspection are similar to those OSHA cited at a Dollar Tree store in Mount Pleasant in September 2022 that led to $254,478 in proposed penalties, the department said.
“The hazards we find at Dollar Tree stores has become a recurring theme,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Eric S. Harbin in Dallas. “The safety conditions that exist at some of these stores create the potential for tragic consequences in an emergency. Dollar Tree Inc. has a legal obligation to provide workers with a safe and healthful workplace by making certain exits and walkways are never blocked.”
According to the department, since 2017, OSHA has issued citations to Dollar Tree Inc. for violations in more than 500 inspections at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores in the U.S. In all, OSHA has identified more than 300 violations at Family Dollar stores.
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