Compact materials to create level bases
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.
- Operate power vibrator to compact concrete.
- Dig ditches or trenches, backfill excavations, or compact and level earth to grade specifications, using picks, shovels, pneumatic tampers, or rakes.
- Operate tamping machines or manually roll surfaces to compact earth fills, foundation forms, and finished road materials, according to grade specifications.
- Operate compactors, scrapers, or rollers to level, compact, or cover refuse at disposal grounds.
- Grade or level trench bases, using tamping machines or hand tools.
- Secure stakes to grids for constructions of footings, nail scabs to footing forms, and vibrate and float concrete.
- Dump, spread, and tamp asphalt, using pneumatic tampers, to repair joints and patch broken pavement.
- Clean, grade, or level ballast on railroad tracks.
- Cover repaired pipes with dirt, and pack backfilled excavations, using air and gasoline tampers.
- Prepare base for installation by removing unstable or unsuitable materials, compacting and grading the soil, draining or stabilizing weak or saturated soils and taking measures to prevent water penetration and migration of bedding sand.
- Fill and tamp holes, using cement, earth, and tamping devices.
- Drive graders, tamping machines, brooms, or ballast spreading machines to redistribute gravel or ballast between rails.
- Sweep sand into the joints and compact pavement until the joints are full.
- Compact bedding sand and pavers to finish the paved area, using a plate compactor.
- Screed sand level to an even thickness, and recheck sand exposed to elements, raking and rescreeding if necessary.
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.
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
- Construction Laborers
- Helpers--Carpenters
- Highway Maintenance Workers
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
- Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
- Pipelayers
- Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
- Segmental Pavers
- Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
- Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Perform general construction or extraction activities”. 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.