AI exposure: 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.
Reading this score
computedAt 21.9% of weighted task load, Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators sits at the 41th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 61.9% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 25 tasks it averages 2.20 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Maintain daily logs of operation, maintenance, and safety activities, at 73.3%. The least is Install burners and auxiliary equipment, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within production occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 107 roles in the group is 16.1%, and only 19 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 25 tasks, 7 are currently banded exposed, 4 assisted and 14 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.50 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.20 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.86 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.04 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.46 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.42 | 0-3 |
Task by task
25 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maintain daily logs of operation, maintenance, and safety activities, including test results, instrument readings, and details of equipment malfunctions and maintenance work. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.27 | exposed |
| Receive instructions from steam engineers regarding steam plant and air compressor operations. | 60.0% | 15.0% | 25.0% | 3.82 | exposed |
| Develop operation, safety, and maintenance procedures or assist in their development. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.04 | exposed |
| Weigh, measure, and record fuel used. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.88 | exposed |
| 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. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.40 | exposed |
| Observe and interpret readings on gauges, meters, and charts registering various aspects of boiler operation to ensure that boilers are operating properly. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.30 | exposed |
| Check the air quality of ventilation systems and make adjustments to ensure compliance with mandated safety codes. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.65 | exposed |
| Analyze problems and take appropriate action to ensure continuous and reliable operation of equipment and systems. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.32 | assisted |
| Contact equipment manufacturers or appropriate specialists when necessary to resolve equipment problems. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.89 | assisted |
| 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. | 20.0% | 17.5% | 62.5% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Supervise the work of assistant stationary engineers, turbine operators, boiler tenders, or air conditioning and refrigeration operators and mechanics. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.22 | assisted |
| 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. | 18.8% | 18.8% | 62.5% | 4.41 | untouched |
| Investigate and report on accidents. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 3.95 | assisted |
| Monitor boiler water, chemical, and fuel levels, and make adjustments to maintain required levels. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
| Operate mechanical hoppers and provide assistance in their adjustment and repair. | 14.2% | 10.8% | 75.0% | 3.79 | untouched |
| Fire coal furnaces by hand or with stokers and gas- or oil-fed boilers, using automatic gas feeds or oil pumps. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Ignite fuel in burners, using torches or flames. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 3.42 | untouched |
| Test boiler water quality or arrange for testing and take necessary corrective action, such as adding chemicals to prevent corrosion and harmful deposits. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| Adjust controls and/or valves on equipment to provide power, and to regulate and set operations of system or industrial processes. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.12 | untouched |
| Test electrical systems to determine voltages, using voltage meters. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Switch from automatic to manual controls and isolate equipment mechanically and electrically to allow for safe inspection and repair work. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.16 | untouched |
| Provide assistance to plumbers in repairing or replacing water, sewer, or waste lines, and in daily maintenance activities. | 5.8% | 6.7% | 87.5% | 3.54 | untouched |
| Perform or arrange for repairs, such as complete overhauls, replacement of defective valves, gaskets, or bearings, or fabrication of new parts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.14 | untouched |
| Clean and lubricate boilers and auxiliary equipment and make minor adjustments as needed, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.07 | untouched |
| Install burners and auxiliary equipment, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.82 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.