Clean machinery or equipment
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 | 11 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Performing General Physical Activities (4.A.3.a.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 11 occupations that perform it.
- Clean hoppers, and clean spillage from tracks, walks, driveways, and conveyor decking.
- Maintain trucks and food-dispensing equipment and clean inside of machines that dispense food or beverages.
- Clean engine parts and keep engine rooms clean.
- Clean and lubricate equipment, and make minor repairs and adjustments.
- Clean parking areas, offices, restrooms, or equipment, and remove trash.
- Clean, sterilize, and maintain equipment, machinery, and work stations, using hand tools, shovels, brooms, chemicals, hoses, and lubricants.
- Clean, lubricate, and maintain mechanisms such as cables, pulleys, or grappling devices, making repairs, as necessary.
- Scrub, scrape, or spray machine parts, equipment, or vehicles, using scrapers, brushes, clothes, cleaners, disinfectants, insecticides, acid, abrasives, vacuums, or hoses.
- Clean and maintain machinery, equipment, and work areas to ensure proper functioning and safe working conditions.
- Clean, lubricate, and adjust equipment, and replace filters and gaskets, using hand tools.
- Clean, lubricate, and repair pumps and vessels, using hand tools and equipment.
- Pre-soak or rinse machine parts, equipment, or vehicles by immersing objects in cleaning solutions or water, manually or using hoists.
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
11 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
- Bridge and Lock Tenders
- Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
- Conveyor Operators and Tenders
- Crane and Tower Operators
- Driver/Sales Workers
- Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining
- Machine Feeders and Offbearers
- Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers
- Ship Engineers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas”. 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.