Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting 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 | 44 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Controlling Machines and Processes (4.A.3.a.3) |
What could do this work.
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.
Who does this work.
44 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Boilermakers
- Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
- Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Commercial Divers
- Continuous Mining Machine Operators
- Crane and Tower Operators
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas
- Dredge Operators
- Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
- Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
- Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers
- Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers
- Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers
- Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters
- Glaziers
- Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
- Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
- Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters
- Hoist and Winch Operators
- Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
- Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
- Maintenance Workers, Machinery
- Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders
- Millwrights
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Pile Driver Operators
- Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers
- Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
- Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
- Riggers
- Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas
- Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
- Sailors and Marine Oilers
- Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas
- Stonemasons
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers
- Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
- Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers
- Tire Repairers and Changers
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Work that goes with it.
O*NET groups these under “Operate lifting or moving equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Lift materials or workpieces using cranes or other lifting equipment | 12 |
| Operate forklifts or other loaders | 6 |
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.