Will AI replace Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators?
Estimated risk score: 26 out of 100
Lower replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (7 to 45).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 25 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 51-8021.00 · Production
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 4 of its 25 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Maintain daily logs of operation, maintenance, and safety activities, including test results, instrument readings, and details of equipment malfunctions and maintenance work.
- Weigh, measure, and record fuel used.
- Develop operation, safety, and maintenance procedures or assist in their development.
- Investigate and report on accidents.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 20 of its 25 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Activate valves to maintain required amounts of water in boilers, to adjust supplies of combustion air, and to control the flow of fuel into burners.
- Adjust controls and/or valves on equipment to provide power, and to regulate and set operations of system or industrial processes.
- Clean and lubricate boilers and auxiliary equipment and make minor adjustments as needed, using hand tools.
- Install burners and auxiliary equipment, using hand tools.
- Operate or tend stationary engines, boilers, and auxiliary equipment, such as pumps, compressors, or air-conditioning equipment, to supply and maintain steam or heat for buildings, marine vessels, or pneumatic tools.
- Perform or arrange for repairs, such as complete overhauls, replacement of defective valves, gaskets, or bearings, or fabrication of new parts.
What the job is
Operate or maintain stationary engines, boilers, or other mechanical equipment to provide utilities for buildings or industrial processes. Operate equipment such as steam engines, generators, motors, turbines, and steam boilers.
Also called: Boiler Operator, Stationary Engineer, Fan Runner, Marine Firer, Retort Firer, Boiler Fireman, Exhaust Worker, Steam Engineer.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate