Dollarama on Gardiners Road has been charged $25,000 by the Ministry of Labour for having an unsafe work environment.

In a Kingston courtroom on Tuesday, the discount store pleaded guilty to “failing as an employer to ensure that safety measures and procedures were carried out,” said a news release. The store was then charged $20,000 plus a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge.

The Ministry of Labour investigation began after it received a complaint about employee safety at the store. An inspection took place on March 13 of this year. The inspector found fire exit doors were blocked by stock, and trip hazards had been created by overcrowding and obstructing merchandise.

The inspector also found that the excess stock was piled precariously high and merchandise was difficult to access. Employees were also unable to use ladders in certain areas of the storage room. Instead, they would use skids, other merchandise, or the guard-railing of a ladder platform to access certain products.

The charges come despite four other compliance orders from the Ministry of Labour between October 2011 and June 2014. Those safety orders had been complied with and implemented by the store.

The victim fine surcharge is required by the Provincial Offences Act. Funds from the surcharge are put to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

— The Whig-Standard