A retired Newfoundland and Labrador labour leader says the organization that regulates the province's offshore oil industry should be replaced.

Bill Parsons criticized the Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOPB) on Wednesday in his testimony at the province's inquiry into the safety of offshore helicopter transport.

"No other country in the world subcontracts out its health and safety to other corporations," said Parsons, former leader of the province's Building and Construction Trades Council and the Construction Safety Association.

He said many of the CNLOPB's regulations were developed by the companies operating in the province's offshore oil industry.

The Offshore Helicopter Safety Inquiry was established by the CNLOPB last spring after 17 people, mostly offshore oil workers, died March 12 in a helicopter crash. The Cougar Helicopters aircraft was ferrying the workers to two oil-production platforms when it crashed into the ocean about 55 kilometres southeast of St. John's.

Parsons says a new, independent organization is needed that would reform and enforce offshore safety regulations.

"Occupational health and safety offshore, from heliport to heliport and at the workplace, must be governed by one body, one occupational health and safety department and one government with the appropriate structure," said Parsons.

He said the current health and safety regime is not working, and the safety training is not adequate.

Parsons is also calling for a helicopter-landing platform or vessel to be built in the ocean east of the province to aid offshore search and rescue efforts.

He says the structure should be halfway between St. John's and the offshore oil production rigs located hundreds of kilometres east of the province.