Position material handling equipment.

Position material handling equipment. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 6 occupations and seen in 9 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Position tools or equipment. in Handling and Moving Objects .

Detailed work activities are the most granular shared layer in O*NET's work-activity hierarchy (Generalized → Intermediate → Detailed → occupation-specific task). The figures below describe how this activity shows up across the economy and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the work will be automated.

AI exposure

Of the 9 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 0 (0%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

Exposure estimates overlap with model capabilities — whether a model could speed the task up — not whether the work will be done by software. Observed AI use is augmentation and assistance today, not jobs replaced.

Member tasks

Occupation-specific tasks O*NET maps to this detailed work activity, most important first.

• Position lifting devices under, over, or around loaded pallets, skids, or boxes and secure material or products for transport to designated areas. · Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Position deflector bars, gates, chutes, or spouts to divert flow of materials from one conveyor onto another conveyor. · Conveyor Operators and Tenders · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Observe positions of cars passing loading spouts, and swing spouts into the correct positions at the appropriate times. · Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Move trailing electrical cables clear of obstructions, using rubber safety gloves. · Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining · importance 4.4 · no direct exposure
• Move mine cars into position for loading and unloading, using pinchbars inserted under car wheels to position cars under loading spouts. · Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Move or reposition hoists, winches, loads and materials, manually or using equipment and machines such as trucks, cars, and hand trucks. · Hoist and Winch Operators · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Pull knuckles to open them for coupling. · Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers · importance 3.9 · no direct exposure
• Provide assistance in aligning drawbars, using available equipment to lift, pull, or push on the drawbars. · Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers · importance 3.7 · no direct exposure
• Push or ride cars down slopes, or hook cars to cables and control cable drum brakes, to ease cars down inclines. · Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining · importance 3.1 · no direct exposure

Occupations that perform this

• Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
• Conveyor Operators and Tenders
• Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
• Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining
• Hoist and Winch Operators
• Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers

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.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

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

@misc{singulariki-position-material-handling-equipment,
  title  = {Position material handling equipment.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/position-material-handling-equipment}
}