The Department of Labor and Dollar General agreed to a settlement earlier this month that would require the store to increase their safety investment in stores nationwide.

Dollar General agreed to pay $12 million in penalties and implement changes across its 19,000 stores that would make the safety of its employees a priority. These improvements include:

– Establishing and maintaining an expanded safety structure and a robust safety and health management system, including hiring additional safety managers.

– Significantly reducing inventory and increasing stocking efficiency to prevent blocked exits and unsafe material storage.

– Providing safety and health training to both leadership and non-managerial employees.

– Developing a safety and health committee and encouraging employee participation.

Dollar General must also quickly make changes to ensure that no stores will have blocked exits, access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels, and that each store must have proper material storage. These hazards had to be fixed within 48 hours of the settlement or the company would face $100,000 fines per day, per violation of the fine.

Dollar General will report quarterly to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on the implementation of these changes and will be subject to open inspections.

As of 2023 there were 641 Dollar General locations in Indiana.