As this story in the Guardian explains, Wal-Mart has agreed in a settlement to pay the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration a 190K fine and to improve worker safety at 2,800 of its stores. Here's an excerpt:
Walmart
has agreed to improve safety conditions at more than 2,800 stores in 28
US states after inspectors discovered "repeat and serious" health and
safety violations at a store in Rochester, New York.
The agreement, which included a $190,000 fine, was negotiated by the
Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),
after it uncovered "unacceptable" safety hazards to employees at the
Rochester store that were similar to those in Walmart locations in nine
other states. The US multinational, which is the largest private
employer in the world, has been cited in more than 100 OSHA reports of
health and safety violations over the last five years, according to the
government body's website. The company has faced a series of work
stoppages, amid increased scrutiny over labor conditions of
sub-contracted workers in its supply chain, both within the United States and abroad. In the Rochester case, OSHA cited Walmart for hazards including a lack of
training on hazardous materials, blocked exits and unsafe trash
compactor procedures, some of which were similar to those discovered at
other stores in nine states between 2008 and 2010.
Read the OSHA-Wal-Mart settlement agreement and OSHA's press release.
