OSHA has proposed $74,000 in fines for a Mobile, Alabama, Winn Dixie store following an inspection the agency began after it received a complaint alleging that night-shift employees at the store were locked in with no means of exiting the building.

"Employers must assure that employees have ready access to an emergency exit," says Ken Atha, OSHA's Mobile area director. "Medical assistance was delayed to an employee at this store because all exits and entrances were either locked or blocked."

OSHA issued one alleged willful citation to the company, with a proposed penalty of $55,000, saying the supermarket failed to provide night-shift employees with an emergency exit. During a two-week period in January, three emergency exit doors were chained, locked, or barred with a steel rod, according to the agency.

A willful citation is issued when an employer has shown intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations.

The agency issued one alleged repeat citation to the company, with a proposed penalty of $12,500, saying the store failed keep exit routes unobstructed by material or equipment. The agency issues a repeat citation when an employer has been cited previously for a substantially similar condition and the citation has become a final order of the independent Occupational Safety and Health Commission.

The company has 15 days to contest the OSHA citations and proposed penalties before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.