The board that regulates Newfoundland and Labrador's oil industry was asked Wednesday why it didn't do more to fix problems with worker's survival suits before the disastrous helicopter crash last March.

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board established the inquiry into offshore helicopter safety after a chopper carrying workers to offshore oil platforms east of St. John's crashed, killing 17.

Questions about the survival suits have come up repeatedly at the inquiry.

On Wednesday, the CNLOPB chief safety officer Howard Pike said the board had heard complaints about the suits before March, but it was never able to get at the root of the problem.

Workers including the lone survivor of the crash, Robert Decker, complained about ill-fitting suits that didn't seal when they're zipped up.

"There was nothing in the standard that talked in terms of fit, or how they fit, or how you should be doing fit testing," said Pike. "Then the question becomes, as the regulator, how do I raise that with the operators? Because they do meet the prescriptive regulatory requirement."

That response shocked the lawyer representing hundreds of the province's 1,200 offshore workers.

"What I've heard so far today is an indication of a regulator that seems to feel that it cannot act or regulate," said Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union lawyer Randy Earle, speaking with reporters after Pike spoke on the stand. "Really, quite surprising and disappointing."

Pike is expected to take more questions from lawyers at the inquiry on Thursday.