Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities to prevent overload.

“Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities to prevent overload.” is a core task performed by Crane and Tower Operators. Among the occupation's 11 rated tasks, workers place it 11th by importance (#1 most important). About 96% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment. in Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information
• Evaluate the quality or accuracy of data. in Processing Information

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Move levers, depress foot pedals, or turn dials to operate cranes, cherry pickers, electromagnets, or other moving equipment for lifting, moving, or placing loads. · importance 4.5
• Inspect and adjust crane mechanisms or lifting accessories to prevent malfunctions or damage. · importance 4.5
• Inspect cables or grappling devices for wear and install or replace cables, as needed. · importance 4.5
• Direct helpers engaged in placing blocking or outrigging under cranes. · importance 4.4
• Clean, lubricate, and maintain mechanisms such as cables, pulleys, or grappling devices, making repairs, as necessary. · importance 4.3
• Load or unload bundles from trucks, or move containers to storage bins, using moving equipment. · importance 4.0
• Inspect bundle packaging for conformance to regulations or customer requirements, and remove and batch packaging tickets. · importance 3.9
• Review daily work or delivery schedules to determine orders, sequences of deliveries, or special loading instructions. · importance 3.7
• Direct truck drivers backing vehicles into loading bays and cover, uncover, or secure loads for delivery. · importance 3.6
• Weigh bundles, using floor scales, and record weights for company records. · importance 3.3

See all tasks on the Crane and Tower Operators page.

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-task-10767,
  title  = {Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities to prevent overload.},
  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/tasks/task-10767}
}