Assemble temporary equipment or structures
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 22 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Handling and Moving Objects (4.A.3.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 22 occupations that perform it.
- Erect scaffolding or ladders for assembling structures above ground level.
- Erect or dismantle scaffolding, shoring, braces, traffic barricades, ramps, or other temporary structures.
- Set up and tear down equipment.
- Assemble, erect, or dismantle scaffolds, rigging, or hoisting equipment.
- Erect scaffolding or swing gates, or set up ladders, to work above ground level.
- Set up equipment, such as pasteboards and scaffolds.
- Set up scaffolds.
- Set up scaffolding to provide safe access to roofs.
- Assemble hoisting equipment or rigging, such as cables, pulleys, or hooks, to move heavy equipment or materials.
- Erect scaffolding or other installation structures.
- Erect scaffolding, shoring, or braces.
- Erect electrical system components and barricades, and rig scaffolds, hoists, and shoring.
- Erect scaffolding.
- Set ladders, scaffolds, and hoists in place for taking supplies to roofs.
- Build containment areas prior to beginning abatement or decontamination work.
- Set and bolt crown blocks to posts at tops of derricks.
- Create or maintain inclines or ramps.
- Tighten ends of anchored truss bolts, using turnbuckles.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
22 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Carpenters
- Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Construction Laborers
- Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
- Glaziers
- Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
- Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters
- Helpers--Carpenters
- Helpers--Electricians
- Helpers--Painters, Paperhangers, Plasterers, and Stucco Masons
- Helpers--Roofers
- Hydroelectric Plant Technicians
- Painters, Construction and Maintenance
- Paperhangers
- Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
- Plasterers and Stucco Masons
- Roof Bolters, Mining
- Roofers
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers
- Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Build structures”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.