Airgas Wins CGA Bulk Gas Fleet Safety Award.

RADNOR, Pa. -- Airgas, Inc. (NYSE:ARG) today announced that it won the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) Bulk Gas Fleet Safety Award for the first time, with the best safety record among bulk fleets with more than 20 million miles driven in 2005.

CGA bases its Fleet Safety Awards on a CGA member's total vehicle accident frequency rate per million miles driven. Two awards honor bulk gas fleets with more than 20 million miles driven and those fleets with less than 20 million miles driven. Two more awards go to the cylinder vehicle fleets with more and less than 3 million miles driven.

This was the first year that Airgas bulk drivers surpassed the 20-million milestone to compete among the industry's largest bulk gas fleets. Airgas, which has the largest cylinder delivery fleet among CGA members, won the CGA Cylinder Fleet Safety Award in 2001 and 2002.

"While Airgas is proud to have won the Cylinder Fleet Safety Award twice, this is our first honor for those drivers who deliver bulk atmospheric, carbon dioxide and dry ice," said Airgas Chairman and CEO Peter McCausland. "Our safety performance in the last year demonstrates that we are growing this segment of our business in the right way."

In accepting the award at the CGA annual meeting this week in Fort Lauderdale, FL, McCausland singled out Duane Young, director of SAFECOR, and John Anderson, director of DOT operations, who coordinates fleet safety training for Airgas. SAFECOR is the Airgas department responsible for coordinating safety, compliance, and regulatory affairs.

"In 2005, nearly 3,000 Airgas drivers drove about 80 million miles, including 25 million bulk miles and 38 million cylinder miles," said Young. "Even though we have more vehicles driving more miles than in past years, Airgas drivers have focused on lowering preventable and total vehicle accident rates during the past year. We are especially proud of the performance of our bulk drivers, who had a total accident rate of just 1.38 per million miles driven."

About Airgas, Inc.

Airgas, Inc. (NYSE:ARG), through its subsidiaries, is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, and related hardgoods, such as welding equipment and supplies. Airgas is also the third-largest U.S. distributor of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants and ammonia products. Its 10,000 employees work in about 900 locations including branches, retail stores, gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities and distribution centers. Airgas also distributes its products and services through eBusiness, catalog and telesales channels. Its national scale and strong local presence offer a competitive edge to its diversified customer base. For more information, please visit www.airgas.com.