# Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators

> 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.

- **SOC code:** 51-8021.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-8021-00
- **Also known as:** Boiler Operator, Operating Engineer, Stationary Engineer, Utilities Operator, Auxiliary Operator, Boiler Technician (Boiler Tech), Operator, Plant Utilities Engineer
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- 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.
- 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.
- Monitor boiler water, chemical, and fuel levels, and make adjustments to maintain required levels.
- Analyze problems and take appropriate action to ensure continuous and reliable operation of equipment and systems.
- Observe and interpret readings on gauges, meters, and charts registering various aspects of boiler operation to ensure that boilers are operating properly.
- Fire coal furnaces by hand or with stokers and gas- or oil-fed boilers, using automatic gas feeds or oil pumps.
- Maintain daily logs of operation, maintenance, and safety activities, including test results, instrument readings, and details of equipment malfunctions and maintenance work.
- Test boiler water quality or arrange for testing and take necessary corrective action, such as adding chemicals to prevent corrosion and harmful deposits.
- Supervise the work of assistant stationary engineers, turbine operators, boiler tenders, or air conditioning and refrigeration operators and mechanics.
- Monitor and inspect equipment, computer terminals, switches, valves, gauges, alarms, safety devices, and meters to detect leaks or malfunctions and to ensure that equipment is operating efficiently and safely.
- Switch from automatic to manual controls and isolate equipment mechanically and electrically to allow for safe inspection and repair work.
- Perform or arrange for repairs, such as complete overhauls, replacement of defective valves, gaskets, or bearings, or fabrication of new parts.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Mechanical _(knowledge)_
- Operations Monitoring _(transferable_skill)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Chemistry _(knowledge)_
- Operation and Control _(transferable_skill)_
- Public Safety and Security _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- Equipment Maintenance _(transferable_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Chemistry _(Specialized Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Equipment Maintenance _(Specialized Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Physics _(Specialized Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- SAP software _(hot technology)_
- Building management system software
- Computerized maintenance management system CMMS
- Database software
- Email software
- Graphics software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 28th percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 35th percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 23rd percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 28th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 76th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 2.2% growth (About average); 3.8k annual openings; 33.3k → 34k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $75,190; 30,780 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-8021-00_