Federal law requires that engineering controls rather than respirators be used to solve air contamination problems. Nevertheless, respirators too often are used as a permanent solution. Some people hate the masks and figure that they're worse off than before. Some even begin to feel that they would rather breath the dirty air. That puts the safety rep or committee in the middle. But this doesn't have to be the end of the story. The more you know about respirators and their regulations, the more you can improve this type of situation.