Maintenance and Repair Workers, General

Perform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. Duties may involve pipe fitting; HVAC maintenance; insulating; welding; machining; carpentry; repairing electrical or mechanical equipment; installing, aligning, and balancing new equipment; and repairing buildings, floors, or stairs.

The occupation "Maintenance and Repair Workers, General" has an automation risk of 30.2%, which is closely aligned with its base risk of 30.6%. This relatively moderate risk level is primarily due to the mixed nature of the tasks that maintenance and repair workers perform. Many duties require a blend of hands-on technical work, situational assessment, and adaptability, making them less straightforward to automate compared to highly repetitive or structured roles. The nature of this work often involves unique environments, unpredictable equipment issues, and the need for on-the-spot decision-making, all of which present challenges for automation technologies. Among the most automatable tasks in this occupation are routine and repetitive actions such as performing scheduled maintenance (e.g., inspecting drives, motors, and belts, checking fluid levels, and replacing filters), conducting diagnostics on machinery, and making standard adjustments using hand tools or measuring instruments. These tasks are more readily automatable because they involve consistent procedures that can be programmed into machines or performed by robots. Technologies such as sensors, computerized maintenance management systems, and robotic diagnostic tools are increasingly capable of handling these standardized activities with high precision and reliability. On the other hand, tasks that are more resistant to automation typically involve greater complexity, creativity, or require the adaptation to unique situational contexts. For example, positioning or attaching insulating materials, assembling boilers at installation sites, or inspecting used parts for dimensional changes remain difficult for automated systems due to the irregularity and physical dexterity involved. These tasks often require worker judgment, hands-on skill, and the ability to navigate changing worksite environments. The bottleneck skill identified for this occupation is "Originality" (2.4%), which underscores the importance of creative problem-solving and adaptive thinking in tasks that robots and algorithms struggle to replicate efficiently.