Dollar Tree Stores Inc., is facing steep penalties for workplace violations at two of their stores in Washington. Unfortunately the company is not a stranger to receiving citations for safety violations, this is the second time in less than two years they are facing fines and violations.

Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) inspectors visited two Dollar Tree Stores in Bonney Lake and Kelso, WA. They found that the stores were knowingly exposing employees to workplace safety hazards, and issued willful violations. Stores in Aberdeen and Chehalis were cited for the same violations in 2016.

Inspectors visited after receiving complaints about safety hazards. A customer was concerned for employees at the Bonney Lake store and contacted L&I. Boxes were blocking pathways and emergency exit routes, and boxes were sometimes stacked so high they could have fallen on employees or customers. These are willful violations and in the event of an emergency could have put employees in harm’s way.

The Bonney Lake store received three willful safety violations for failing to ensure exit routes were free of obstructions, for storing merchandise in a way that created a safety hazard (some stacks of boxes were leaning and more than nine feet high), and for failing to install protective guarding over light fixtures that could be struck by falling merchandise, potentially causing eye injuries or other cuts. The first two violations carry fines of $70,000 each; the last carries a penalty of $26,000.

The Kelso store was cited for two willful violations, also for crowding merchandise in an unsafe way and blocking exit routes with merchandise. Each of those violations carry a penalty of $70,000. In total the company is facing $306,000 in fines. The company is appealing the citations.

Read more from the Washington Department of Labor & Industries