Breathing clean air is what everyone needs to do to stay safe and healthy on the job. But some jobs can expose workers to contaminants that can cause simple irritation or even a serious illness. A respirator is a piece of Personal Protective Equipment like gloves or a hard hat, but they are more complex and require specific training before use. Air purifying respirators can be an effective means to keeping harmful contamination out of worker’s lungs, but need to be selected, fitted, used and maintained in a way that assures a workers protection.