Melissa K. Peters

Melissa K. Peters is a core member of firm’s Occupational Safety and Health Practice Group, and her practice focuses on matters involving occupational safety and health across all industry sectors. She assists employers in Federal OSHA and State OSH Plan jurisdictions on a range of regulatory compliance issues and has extensive experience handling fatality, accident, and complaint investigations. Melissa supports clients in all aspects of litigation against OSHA, from citation contest to enforcement proceedings.

Previously, Melissa worked as an attorney for the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA). During her time at Cal/OSHA, she represented the Division in administrative appeal hearings and third-party litigation arising from occupational fatalities and regularly advised on enforcement issues including facility closures, orders prohibiting use and search warrants. Melissa concentrated on cases involving alleged violations of bloodborne pathogens, heat illness, and workplace violence standards and worked closely with Cal/OSHA’s Enforcement, High Hazard, Research and Standards and Labor Enforcement Task Force (LETF) units.

Melissa represents clients in various industries including energy, manufacturing, logistics and production and processing. She also serves as counsel for various trade associations and coalitions in the construction industry. In addition to her litigation practice, Melissa provides strategic advice and compliance assistance to employers including:

• Auditing, developing, and implementing safety programs and protocols
• Providing safety and health compliance counseling
• Representing industry stakeholders in all aspects of OSHA rulemaking at the federal level

Melissa’s experience-based understanding of how OSHA operates combined with her knowledge of current issues in the safety and health arena allows her to provide focused counsel to employers of all sizes.