Lawyer Randy Earle is representing hundreds of unionized offshore workers at the helicopter safety inquiry in St. John's. (CBC)

The petroleum board that regulates Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil industry and oil companies has failed to protect offshore workers, a union lawyer said Thursday at an inquiry into offshore helicopter safety.

"Our conclusion is that the history we have seen indicates that the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board has failed in its role as a regulator," said Randell Earle, representing hundreds of unionized offshore oil workers. "We can find no other conclusion."

Earle was speaking in St. John's at an inquiry set up after a helicopter transporting workers to oil platforms east of Newfoundland crashed into the ocean, killing 17 people.

He said problems with survival suits and search and rescue times, which were well documented before the crash, were not dealt with adequately by the board.

Earle said oil companies that operate in Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oilfields have not fulfilled their duty ensure worker safety.

"These failures equally reflect failure on the oil companies," he said.

A lawyer representing oil companies operating in Newfoundland and Labrador at the inquiry defended the company's safety record.

"We are committed to safe helicopter transportation," said Alexander MacDonald speaking at the inquiry Thursday. "We are looking forward to finding solutions that can work in the real world."

MacDonald said the oil companies do not agree that the responsibility for worker safety should be taken away from the C-NLOPB.

"We don't think it will make any difference or that it will improve safety at all." he said.

"If there is a systematic problem major change is necessary," Earle said. "The lesson learned form this is that we need a strong and effective regulator in Newfoundland and Labrador. We can't leave it to the operators (oil companies) and we can't have a regulator that sits on its hands."

He called on the inquiry's commissioner, retired Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Judge Robert Wells, to recommend that another body independent of the C-NLOPB and oil companies should be responsible for worker safety.

"[The C-NLOPB] can't be left with the responsibility to take care of safety," said Earle. "We are saying make a recommendation that goes against the mainstream of Canada. New Zealand has a system where regulation of safety is independent of industry. It is not impossible to do."