Will AI replace Hoist and Winch Operators?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
8/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 17% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 16% of the work
What the job involves
Operate or tend hoists or winches to lift and pull loads using power-operated cable equipment.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(2)
- Signal and assist other workers loading or unloading materials.
- Select loads or materials according to weight and size specifications.
Out of reach(11)
- Observe equipment gauges and indicators and hand signals of other workers to verify load positions or depths.
- Apply hand or foot brakes and move levers to lock hoists or winches.
- Start engines of hoists or winches and use levers and pedals to wind or unwind cable on drums.
- 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.
- Move or reposition hoists, winches, loads and materials, manually or using equipment and machines such as trucks, cars, and hand trucks.
and 6 more
Also called
Cable Operator · Cupola Hoist Operator · Jammer Operator · Hoist Operator · Winch Derrick Operator · Air Hoist Operator · Air Lift Operator · Boat Hoist Operator
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics