Clean and lubricate equipment.

“Clean and lubricate equipment.” is a supplemental task performed by Helpers--Production Workers. Among the occupation's 34 rated tasks, workers place it 14th by importance (#21 most important). About 53% 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.

• Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas. in Performing General Physical Activities
• Maintain tools or equipment. in Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

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 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Count finished products to determine if product orders are complete. · importance 4.2
• Load and unload items from machines, conveyors, and conveyances. · importance 4.2
• Operate machinery used in the production process, or assist machine operators. · importance 4.2
• Place products in equipment or on work surfaces for further processing, inspecting, or wrapping. · importance 4.1
• Examine products to verify conformance to quality standards. · importance 4.0
• Measure amounts of products, lengths of extruded articles, or weights of filled containers to ensure conformance to specifications. · importance 4.0
• Separate products according to weight, grade, size, or composition of materials used to produce them. · importance 3.9
• Mark or tag identification on parts. · importance 3.9
• Turn valves to regulate flow of liquids or air, to reverse machines, to start pumps, or to regulate equipment. · importance 3.9
• Start machines or equipment to begin production processes. · importance 3.9
• Mix ingredients according to specified procedures or formulas. · importance 3.8
• Observe equipment operations so that malfunctions can be detected, and notify operators of any malfunctions. · importance 3.8
• Remove products, machine attachments, or waste material from machines. · importance 3.8
• Tie products in bundles for further processing or shipment, following prescribed procedures. · importance 3.8

See all tasks on the Helpers--Production Workers 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-12701,
  title  = {Clean and lubricate 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/tasks/task-12701}
}