The American Industrial Hygiene Association is an organization of professionals dedicated to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of environmental factors arising in or from the workplace that may result in injury, illness, impairment, or affect the well-being of workers and members of the community.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association, founded in 1939, is an organization of professionals dedicated to the prevention of workplace-related illness or injury. With more than 11,000 members, AIHA is the largest international association serving the needs of occupational and environmental scientists and engineers practicing industrial hygiene.

The purposes of AIHA are to promote the field of industrial hygiene, to provide education and training, to provide a forum for theexchange of ideas and information, and to represent the interests of industrial hygienists and those they serve.

A section formation committee consisting of four past presidents of the Southern California Section, Ralph Allan, Lyn Berman, Les Boston, and Jim Unmack, plus four more activists, Bob Hollenbeck, Lehi Pitchforth, Sylvia Shattuck, met on March 12, 1987 to start the process of forming a new section. The Southern California Section met at Les Freres Taix Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard and the drive from Orange County to Los Angeles was getting to be too much of an ordeal.

We demonstrated that we would have at least 50 members, the threshold for a new section. The Board of Directors of the American Industrial Hygiene Association approved the formation of the Orange County Section on May 11, 1987. Eight volunteers formed the first officers and directors and with a check of $25.00 as seed money the Orange County Section was launched. Jim Messelbeck was selected to be the first president of the Orange County Section. A set of bylaws was drafted and approved by the national board. The Turnip Rose soon became the favorite spot for dinner meetings.