AI exposure: Hoist and Winch Operators
Operate or tend hoists or winches to lift and pull loads using power-operated cable equipment.
Reading this score
computedAt 8.2% of weighted task load, Hoist and Winch Operators sits at the 11th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 87.3% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 13 tasks it averages 2.73 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Select loads or materials according to weight and size specifications, at 50.0%. The least is Climb ladders to position and set up vehicle-mounted derricks, at 0.0%. A gap of 50.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within transportation and material moving occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 24.3% across the group's 52 roles, with 47 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 13 tasks, 2 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 11 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.46 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.73 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.69 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.92 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.04 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.54 | 0-3 |
Task by task
13 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Select loads or materials according to weight and size specifications. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Observe equipment gauges and indicators and hand signals of other workers to verify load positions or depths. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.30 | exposed |
| Signal and assist other workers loading or unloading materials. | 16.7% | 8.3% | 75.0% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Start engines of hoists or winches and use levers and pedals to wind or unwind cable on drums. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.29 | untouched |
| Apply hand or foot brakes and move levers to lock hoists or winches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.29 | untouched |
| Repair, maintain, and adjust equipment, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Tend auxiliary equipment, such as jacks, slings, cables, or stop blocks, to facilitate moving items or materials for further processing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.24 | untouched |
| Move levers, pedals, and throttles to stop, start, and regulate speeds of hoist or winch drums in response to hand, bell, buzzer, telephone, loud-speaker, or whistle signals, or by observing dial indicators or cable marks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Move or reposition hoists, winches, loads and materials, manually or using equipment and machines such as trucks, cars, and hand trucks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.96 | untouched |
| Attach, fasten, and disconnect cables or lines to loads, materials, and equipment, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Oil winch drums so that cables will wind smoothly. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.86 | untouched |
| Operate compressed air, diesel, electric, gasoline, or steam-driven hoists or winches to control movement of cableways, cages, derricks, draglines, loaders, railcars, or skips. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.34 | untouched |
| Climb ladders to position and set up vehicle-mounted derricks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.97 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.