Set up and operate equipment such as hoists, jackhammers, and drills, in order to bore charge holes.

“Set up and operate equipment such as hoists, jackhammers, and drills, in order to bore charge holes.” is a task performed by Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters. Among the occupation's 30 rated tasks, workers place it 2nd by importance (#29 most important).

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.

• Drill holes in earth or materials. in Handling and Moving Objects

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

• Examine blast areas to determine amounts and kinds of explosive charges needed and to ensure that safety laws are observed. · importance 4.9
• Tie specified lengths of delaying fuses into patterns in order to time sequences of explosions. · importance 4.7
• Place safety cones around blast areas to alert other workers of danger zones, and signal workers as necessary to ensure that they clear blast sites prior to explosions. · importance 4.6
• Place explosive charges in holes or other spots; then detonate explosives to demolish structures or to loosen, remove, or displace earth, rock, or other materials. · importance 4.6
• Insert, pack, and pour explosives, such as dynamite, ammonium nitrate, black powder, or slurries into blast holes; then shovel drill cuttings, admit water into boreholes, and tamp material to compact charges. · importance 4.6
• Mark patterns, locations, and depths of charge holes for drilling, and issue drilling instructions. · importance 4.5
• Compile and keep gun and explosives records in compliance with local and federal laws. · importance 4.5
• Measure depths of drilled blast holes, using weighted tape measures. · importance 4.5
• Connect electrical wire to primers, and cover charges or fill blast holes with clay, drill chips, sand, or other material. · importance 4.5
• Lay primacord between rows of charged blast holes, and tie cord into main lines to form blast patterns. · importance 4.4
• Assemble and position equipment, explosives, and blasting caps in holes at specified depths, or load perforating guns or torpedoes with explosives. · importance 4.3
• Verify detonation of charges by observing control panels, or by listening for the sounds of blasts. · importance 4.3
• Move and store inventories of explosives, loaded perforating guns, and other materials, according to established safety procedures. · importance 4.3
• Light fuses, drop detonating devices into wells or boreholes, or activate firing devices with plungers, dials, or buttons, in order to set off single or multiple blasts. · importance 4.2

See all tasks on the Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters 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-23493,
  title  = {Set up and operate equipment such as hoists, jackhammers, and drills, in order to bore charge holes.},
  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-23493}
}