The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants to fine a Big Box retailer an additional $1.6M for violating federal workplace safety standards. Prior to OSHA’s recent announcement, the regulatory agency had proposed fining the employer $3.3M since 2016.
Although this retailer’s business model is based upon low prices, its approach to environmental health and safety seems to be that fines and penalties are just a cost of doing business. That might not be the case, of course, but the $3.3M in fines that it faced last December is now almost $5M.
It also seems fair to say that the company’s approach to safety is reactive instead of proactive. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be what OSHA has called a “long history of violations and repeated failures to protect its workers from on-the-job hazards”.
As OSHA explained in its recent announcement, the employer’s safety violations include:
- Blocked exit routes and electrical panels
- Failing to mount and label fire extinguishers
- Locked exit doors that require a key to open them
Doug Parker, OSHA Assistant Secretary, has stated that the regulatory agency plans to use its “full enforcement powers” to hold the employer accountable for “its ongoing pattern of behavior until they show that they take worker safety seriously.”
