NFPA 55 was developed by the Industrial and Medical Gases Committee in recognition of
the need to provide information on the use of cylinder gases in one standard. The Com-
pressed Gas Association assisted the project by submitting a draft that was used as the frame-
work for the standard.
NFPA 55 supersedes NFPA 43C,
Code for the Storage of Gaseous Oxidizing Materials,
which was
developed by the Committee on Hazardous Chemicals and transferred to the Industrial and
Medical Gases Committee. The committee believed that one standard covering storage of all
gas cylinders was needed and, with the new NFPA 55, the need for NFPA 43C no longer
existed.
Since this standard was introduced in 1993, it has been widely used and accepted by users
of different types of gases as a single source covering requirements for installation and usage
of gases in portable cylinders. This second edition clarifies many requirements and provides
additional advisory information to assist the users of the standard. Editorial changes were also
incorporated for clarity.