Melissa K. Peters

Melissa is a shareholder in the San Francisco office of Ogletree Deakins where her practice focuses solely on occupational safety and health issues. She represents employers across various industry sectors during all stages of federal OSHA and state plan enforcement proceedings, from accident and complaint inspections through to citation appeals and administrative hearings. Additionally, Melissa represents employers in whistleblower relation claims brought under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

With fifteen years of experience dedicated exclusively to occupational safety and health law, Melissa provides strategic and practical guidance to employers of all sizes. This includes developing and auditing safety programs, conducting privileged investigations following workplace incidents, and providing tailored training to management and employees.

Melissa previously served as staff counsel for the California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA). In this role, she handled complex compliance matters and prosecuted enforcement actions. Melissa’s government experience gives her a nuanced understanding of the regulatory enforcement landscape that she leverages to benefit her clients. In addition to her enforcement and advice and counsel work, Melissa partners with various industry coalitions to represent their interests during rulemaking efforts at the federal and state levels. This work includes drafting comments and representing employers during rulemaking hearings.

Melissa has extensive crisis management experience, including representing employers in high-profile fatality and catastrophe investigations and multi-agency inspections. Melissa’s unique understanding surrounding how and why OSHA issues citations has resulted in numerous successful resolutions in advance of administrative hearing. Among others, this track-record includes a state plan agency’s withdrawal of serious citations involving peracetic acid in a high-profile matter for a national agricultural client and Fed OSHA’s withdrawal of hazard communication citations issued to a global energy client.

Melissa represents clients in industries including healthcare, logistics, utilities, manufacturing, agriculture, retail and construction and is recognized both for her effective advocacy and her commitment to proactive risk management.