Lyle,
Over here in NZ, this field is a very restricted one, you pretty much have to have started out as a Trainee Electrician/Instrument Tech in the Petro-Chemical Industry, to even think about working around electrical gear in this field, let alone inspect it.
There's a whole heap of courses(read
otential money-making scheme)around to provide knowledge and skills for those that inspect and certify these Hazardous Areas(as they are called over here) and man are they expensive