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Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials

Work activity group · O*NET

Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials is one of the 41 Generalized Work Activities at the top of O*NET's work-activity hierarchy — the broadest description of what people do on the job, sitting above the more specific intermediate and detailed work activities. Across the 894 occupations O*NET rates on it, it scores an average importance of 3.21 of 5 — 55th percentile among all activity groups.

Intermediate activities it contains

The intermediate work activities O*NET groups under Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials, ranked by how many occupations perform each. Each links to its own page.

Intermediate activity Occupations AI applied
Inspect commercial, industrial, or production systems or equipment 146 30th pct
Test performance of equipment or systems 107 63rd pct
Inspect completed work or finished products 102 61st pct
Inspect facilities or equipment 92 46th pct
Test characteristics of materials or products 53 47th pct
Examine people or animals to assess health conditions or physical characteristics 47 21st pct
Inspect characteristics or conditions of materials or products 40 55th pct
Administer diagnostic tests to assess patient health 38 2nd pct
Inspect vehicles 34 20th pct
Test performance of computer or information systems 23 57th pct
Evaluate green technologies or processes 10 40th pct
Test sites or materials for environmental hazards 8 5th pct

How AI is applied to this activity group

Microsoft's "Working with AI" study measured how often an AI assistant performs each work activity in real Bing Copilot conversations. Averaged across the 12 intermediate activities under Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials that the study measured, this group ranks in the 37th percentile for how frequently AI is applied — a description of how AI is used today, not a forecast that the activity will be automated.

The figure is the mean of the child activities' applied-percentiles; open any activity above to see its underlying Microsoft measurements. Every occupation blends many activities, so a high AI-applied rank for one group does not mean a job is being automated.

Occupations that rely on this activity group most

Ranked by O*NET importance rating (1–5) for Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials. Wages are BLS OEWS May 2024 national medians.

Occupation Importance Median pay Employment
Commercial Pilots 4.91 $122,670 51,830
Aviation Inspectors 4.91 $85,750 23,320
Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers 4.90 $60,020 12,600
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 4.83 $226,600 99,300
Non-Destructive Testing Specialists 4.82 $77,390 64,410
Construction Laborers 4.76 $46,730 1,057,660
Sailors and Marine Oilers 4.75 $49,610 31,360
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists 4.75 — —
Tree Trimmers and Pruners 4.74 $50,430 47,870
Manufactured Building and Mobile Home Installers 4.73 $41,080 2,610
Airfield Operations Specialists 4.72 $56,750 16,640
Wind Turbine Service Technicians 4.66 $62,580 11,220
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand 4.63 $41,690 11,850
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 4.60 $78,680 136,390
Endoscopy Technicians 4.60 $46,050 103,650
Radiation Therapists 4.59 $101,990 18,700
Nuclear Technicians 4.59 $104,240 5,990
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 4.58 $59,600 17,410
Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas 4.56 $65,010 13,090
Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders 4.56 $58,070 10,920
Millwrights 4.55 $65,170 40,660
Pile Driver Operators 4.55 $70,510 3,040
Firefighters 4.54 $59,530 332,240
Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas 4.54 $57,980 44,120
Roof Bolters, Mining 4.53 $76,640 2,230
Nurse Anesthetists 4.52 $223,210 50,350
Wind Energy Operations Managers 4.49 $136,550 630,980
Locomotive Engineers 4.49 $77,400 31,990
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 4.48 $48,620 1,531,700
First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers 4.48 $92,430 93,680
Roustabouts, Oil and Gas 4.48 $47,510 45,330
Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers 4.47 $64,190 11,400
Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers 4.46 $38,860 97,540
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators 4.45 $75,190 30,780
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers 4.44 $57,440 2,070,480
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators 4.44 $46,390 805,770
Sheet Metal Workers 4.44 $60,850 117,470
Model Makers, Metal and Plastic 4.43 $62,700 3,230
Respiratory Therapists 4.42 $80,450 136,420
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.42 $48,630 22,350
Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers 4.42 $58,030 3,300
Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines 4.41 $63,980 180,270
Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders 4.41 $41,460 13,890
Medical Assistants 4.40 $44,200 793,460
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 4.40 $58,710 469,270
Surgical Technologists 4.40 $62,830 113,890
Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels 4.40 $85,540 35,390
Helpers--Extraction Workers 4.40 $48,400 6,720
Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists 4.39 $60,640 287,230
Medical Equipment Preparers 4.39 $46,490 72,760
Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers 4.38 $92,560 123,680
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 4.38 $52,550 34,210
Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators 4.38 $67,370 16,480
Fire Inspectors and Investigators 4.38 $78,060 14,050
First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers 4.37 $47,520 174,660
Tire Builders 4.37 $55,580 20,970
Light Truck Drivers 4.36 $44,140 994,410
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.36 $46,060 129,850
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators 4.36 $51,650 45,680
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders 4.36 $45,210 12,170

Showing 60 of 894 occupations.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/inspecting-equipment-structures-or-materials

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/inspecting-equipment-structures-or-materials

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-inspecting-equipment-structures-or-materials,
  title  = {Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/inspecting-equipment-structures-or-materials}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.