Clean surfaces in preparation for work activities
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 | 15 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 15 occupations that perform it.
- Apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean surfaces of paintings, and to remove accretions, discolorations, and deteriorated varnish.
- Perform general cleaning duties in the store to ensure the shop is clean and tidy.
- Clean working surface to remove scale, dust, soot, or chips of brick and mortar, using broom, wire brush, or scraper.
- Sweep, scrape, sand, or chip dirt and irregularities to clean base surfaces, correcting imperfections that may show through the covering.
- Remove any old tile, grout and adhesive using chisels and scrapers and clean the surface carefully.
- Clean chipped area, using wire brush, and feel and observe surface to determine if it is rough or uneven.
- Wash polished terrazzo surface, using cleaner and water, and apply sealer and curing agent according to manufacturer's specifications, using brush or sprayer.
- Mop, brush, or spread paints, cleaning solutions, or other compounds over surfaces to clean them or to provide protection.
- Wash concrete surfaces before mounting tile to increase adhesive qualities of surfaces, using washing soda and zinc sulfate solution.
- Wash and treat surfaces with oil, turpentine, mildew remover, or other preparations, and sand rough spots to ensure that finishes will adhere properly.
- Remove paint, varnish, dirt, and grease from surfaces, using paint remover and water soda solutions.
- Clean and prepare surfaces for applications of plaster, cement, stucco, or similar materials, such as by drywall taping.
- Clean installation surfaces, equipment, tools, work sites, or storage areas, using water, chemical solutions, oxygen lances, or polishing machines.
- Place articles to be stripped into stripping tanks.
- Sweep and clean roofs to prepare them for the application of new roofing materials.
- Apply muriatic acid to clean surface, and rinse with water.
- Spray materials, such as water, sand, steam, vinyl, paint, or stucco, through hoses to clean, coat, or seal surfaces.
- Remove old finishes by stripping, sanding, wire brushing, burning, or using water or abrasive blasting.
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
15 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Brickmasons and Blockmasons
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
- Construction Laborers
- Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
- Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
- Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles
- Floral Designers
- Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters
- Helpers--Painters, Paperhangers, Plasterers, and Stucco Masons
- Helpers--Roofers
- Painters, Construction and Maintenance
- Paperhangers
- Plasterers and Stucco Masons
- Terrazzo Workers and Finishers
- Tile and Stone Setters
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.