ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The head of an inquiry into helicopter safety off Newfoundland says recent improvements are a good start, but urgently needed changes will take time.

"Progress may not be as fast as some people might like -- and perhaps I might like," said commissioner Robert Wells in an interview.

"But you know, in fairness, they are making progress."

Wells heard evidence over five months starting in October as part of the probe called after Cougar Flight 491 crashed in March 2009, killing 17 of 18 people aboard.

The inquiry's aim is to make helicopter travel as safe as possible for workers at offshore oil sites more than 300 kilometres southeast of St. John's. About 700 people work offshore, often in three-week shifts, at any given time.

Wells could not wait to act until his first report is due in September.

He made a pre-emptive call in mid-February for faster, better emergency response. He said at the time that he knew changes couldn't be made "in a day or even a month."

The federal-provincial board that regulates offshore oil activity responded by ordering companies to cut emergency response times and fully equip a search and rescue helicopter on standby in St. John's whenever workers fly.

Transportation flights at night or in low visibility have been restricted to emergencies ever since. Other flights have continued as usual.

In the meantime, oil companies that contract Cougar Helicopters to provide search and rescue service have added an extra chopper to cut "wheels-up" response time to 30 minutes from up to one hour.

That's still almost twice the 15- to 20-minute daytime response standard that the regulatory board ordered in February. It called for a 45-minute standard in the evenings and overnight.

Wells, a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, stressed in the interview that every second counts.

"With our temperatures and conditions at any time of the year, quick response is essential.

"I'm not sure why the response time is not yet able to be reduced to 15 or 20 minutes, but a half-an-hour is certainly an improvement over the hour which existed before."

John Downton, a spokesman for Terra Nova oilfield operator Suncor Energy, said it will be midsummer or fall before the faster response time is achieved with a Transport Canada-approved, fully equipped Sikorsky S-92.

New crew, training and a hangar are also needed, he said.

"We're doing things in an orderly fashion to try and respond to suggestions and requests and guidance that's come forward. And we'll continue to work on that."

Specifications outlined by Wells and the regulator include auto-hover and a forward-looking infrared device to help find and retrieve survivors.

Cougar's helicopters in the past have lacked such equipment, which is available on military Cormorants. Those big yellow helicopters respond to emergencies within 30 minutes between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., or two hours for evenings, weekends and holidays.

Military choppers are based in central Newfoundland at Gander.

Opposition MPs and union leaders have long called for a 24-hour search and rescue helicopter based in St. John's, closest to the oil fields.

It's a recommendation that stems back to an inquiry after the Ocean Ranger oil rig disaster in 1982 killed 84 workers.

Randell Earle, the lawyer for unionized offshore workers, says action is long overdue.

"It's good to have it happen now," he said. "But why did it take so long for people to realize that what needs to be done here was available elsewhere in the world and ... is quite easy to do? That's what troubles me."

Wells made his early recommendation after hearing at the inquiry that offshore workers in the North Sea and other parts of the world can count on emergency response times of 15 to 30 minutes.

Downton of Suncor didn't want to talk about why standards for staff here were slower.

"That's all I can speak to, is what we are doing. I don't want to get into a discussion beyond that."

Robert Decker, the sole survivor of the Cougar Flight 491 disaster, was hypothermic and delirious after 75 minutes in the water when he was plucked from the frigid North Atlantic.

He was saved by a Cougar chopper that first had to be equipped with a rescue winch before it could rush to his aid. Military choppers were two hours away on training in Nova Scotia that day.