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 this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 44 occupations that perform it.
- Attach rigging and signal crane or hoist operators to lift heavy frame and plate sections or other parts into place.
- Remove sections of monument from truck bed, and guide stone onto foundation, using skids, hoist, or truck crane.
- Move hand and foot levers of hoisting equipment to position piling leads, hoist piling into leads, and position hammers over pilings.
- Hang drywall panels on metal frameworks of walls and ceilings in offices, schools, or other large buildings, using lifts or hoists to adjust panel heights, when necessary.
- Load and arrange glass or mirrors onto delivery trucks, using suction cups or cranes to lift glass.
- Fasten structural steel members to hoist cables, using chains, cables, or rope.
- Move or position materials such as marble slabs, using cranes, hoists, or dollies.
- Load or unload materials into containers or onto trucks, using hoists or forklifts.
- Raise rails, using hydraulic jacks, to allow for tie removal and replacement.
- Clamp holding fixtures on ends of hoisting cables.
- Push levers and brake pedals to control gasoline, diesel, electric, or steam draw works that lower and raise drill pipes and casings in and out of wells.
- Thread cables through derrick pulleys, using hand tools.
- Retrieve lost equipment from bore holes, using retrieval tools and equipment.
- Lower perforating guns into wells, using hoists; then use measuring devices and instrument panels to position guns in correct positions for taking samples.
- Move levers to raise and lower hydraulic safety bars supporting roofs above machines until other workers complete framing.
- Guide cranes to move loads about decks.
- Lift equipment into position, using cranes and rigging tools or equipment, such as gin poles.
- Lift units or parts such as motors or generators, using cranes or chain hoists, or signal crane operators to lift heavy parts or subassemblies.
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
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.