use File::BOM 'open_bom';

# ...

eval { open_bom(LOG, $sqlErrorlog) };
if ($@) {
    $ref->{log_open_error} = "***Error: $@";

    # don't know what Win32::GetLastError would do here
    # just try it, if you really need it...
    # $ref->{log_open_error} .= Win32::FormatMessage(Win32::GetLastError);

    return $ref;
}