Dig holes or trenches
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.
- Dig trench for foundation of monument, using pick and shovel.
- Dig or direct digging of post holes and set poles to support structures.
- Dig ditches or trenches, backfill excavations, or compact and level earth to grade specifications, using picks, shovels, pneumatic tampers, or rakes.
- Perform physically demanding tasks, such as digging trenches to lay conduit or moving or lifting heavy objects.
- Dig trenches to desired or required depths, by hand or using trenching tools.
- Dig trenches or holes for installation of conduit or supports.
- Excavate and grade ditches, and lay and join pipe for water and sewer service.
- Dig postholes, using spades, posthole diggers, or power-driven augers.
- Dig out sewer lines manually, using shovels.
- Dig drainage ditches around wells and storage tanks.
- Dig trenches.
- Dig holes or trenches as necessary for equipment installation and access.
- Dig holes, using augers, and set poles, using cranes and power equipment.
- Dig trenches for underground wires or cables.
- Dig trenches for system piping to appropriate depths and lay piping in trenches.
- Dig holes, set forms, and mix and pour concrete into forms to make foundations for wood or steel derricks.
- Cut trenches for laying underground cables, using trenchers and cable plows.
- Dig holes for power poles, using power augers or shovels, set poles in place with cranes, and hoist poles upright, using winches.
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.
- Carpenters
- Construction Laborers
- Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers
- Electricians
- Fence Erectors
- Geothermal Technicians
- Helpers--Electricians
- Helpers--Extraction Workers
- Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
- Pipelayers
- Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
- Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
- Stonemasons
- Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers
- 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.