Spread sand, dirt or other loose materials onto surfaces
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 | 8 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 8 occupations that perform it.
- Shovel blacktop.
- Cover pipes with earth or other materials.
- Glaze top layers to make a smooth finish or embed gravel in the bitumen for rough surfaces.
- Apply shingles, gravel, or asphalt over the top layer of tar to protect the roofing material.
- Haul and spread sand, gravel, and clay to fill washouts and repair road shoulders.
- Clean, grade, or level ballast on railroad tracks.
- Cover repaired pipes with dirt, and pack backfilled excavations, using air and gasoline tampers.
- Supply and place base materials, edge restraints, bedding sand and jointing sand.
- Apply gravel or pebbles over top layers of roofs, using rakes or stiff-bristled brooms.
- 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.
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
8 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
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.