Protecting the health and safety of healthcare workers is vital to the health of each of us. Preparing for and responding to a future influenza pandemic or to a sustained outbreak of an airborne transmissible disease requires a high-level commitment to respiratory protection for healthcare workers across the wide range of settings in which they work and the jobs that they perform. Keeping healthcare workers healthy is an ethical commitment both in terms of addressing the occupational risks faced by healthcare workers and of providing for the continuity of patient care and services needed to maintain the health of individuals and communities.