Feed fuel, such as coal and coke, into fireboxes or onto conveyors, and remove ashes from furnaces, using shovels and buckets.

“Feed fuel, such as coal and coke, into fireboxes or onto conveyors, and remove ashes from furnaces, using shovels and buckets.” is a supplemental task performed by Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders. Among the occupation's 18 rated tasks, workers place it 4th by importance (#15 most important). About 45% 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.

• Load products, materials, or equipment for transportation or further processing. in Performing General Physical Activities

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

• Monitor equipment operation, gauges, and panel lights to detect deviations from standards. · importance 4.5
• Confer with supervisors or other equipment operators to report equipment malfunctions or to resolve production problems. · importance 4.3
• Press and adjust controls to activate, set, and regulate equipment according to specifications. · importance 4.2
• Record gauge readings, test results, and shift production in log books. · importance 4.2
• Stop equipment and clear blockages or jams, using fingers, wire, or hand tools. · importance 4.2
• Read and interpret work orders and instructions to determine work assignments, process specifications, and production schedules. · importance 4.2
• Examine or test samples of processed substances, or collect samples for laboratory testing, to ensure conformance to specifications. · importance 4.2
• Load equipment receptacles or conveyors with material to be processed, by hand or using hoists. · importance 4.2
• Remove products from equipment, manually or using hoists, and prepare them for storage, shipment, or additional processing. · importance 4.1
• Calculate amounts of materials to be loaded into furnaces, adjusting amounts as necessary for specific conditions. · importance 4.0
• Transport materials and products to and from work areas, manually or using carts, handtrucks, or hoists. · importance 4.0
• Melt or refine metal before casting, calculating required temperatures, and observe metal color, adjusting controls as necessary to maintain required temperatures. · importance 4.0
• Weigh or measure specified amounts of ingredients or materials for processing, using devices such as scales and calipers. · importance 3.9
• Direct crane operators and crew members to load vessels with materials to be processed. · importance 3.8

See all tasks on the Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders 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-4973,
  title  = {Feed fuel, such as coal and coke, into fireboxes or onto conveyors, and remove ashes from furnaces, using shovels and buckets.},
  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-4973}
}