Consultation paper needs careful consideration

Dear Editor:

The Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour has produced a Consultation Paper containing proposed changes to regulations under the Crane Operators and Power Engineers Act. This lettter addresses my area of interest which is power engineering.

Power engineers work in plants that provide heat and cooling for institutions and industrial applications. Their purpose is to make sure that the energy and hazardous materials with which they work are kept under control for the safety of workers and the public.

Protection of the public being their primary function makes them comparable to fireservice and police in that respect. That is the reason why the trade has been closely regulated for many years.

The Consultation Paper contains changes that need careful consideration before being implemented because many of them lower standards that have been in place for a long time. I and others have concerns about those changes. The problem is that an arbitrary deadline of Nov 30, 2006 has been set to forward recommendations to the Minister. I have concluded that the deadline is far too soon considering the gravity of the issues and the fact that the paper only came out September 18, a little over a month ago.

The paper can be viewed at this site www.gov.ns.ca/enla/equipmentsafety/consultation.asp I strongly urge power engineers and interested members of the public to review the paper and forward comments to the contact person named. You may wish to contact your MLA as well.

Ron Fraser

Kingston