Crane drivers
Crane drivers supervise and undertake the operation of cranes, jib cranes, power driven hoisting machinery and power driven stationary engines to raise and lower mine and other cages, and to lift and move equipment, materials, machinery and containers.
- Employees (UK)
- 7k
- Median annual pay
- £46,392
- Exposure score ?
- 1.2/10 Minimal 1.8/10 Minimal strict reading, with tools is 1.8/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.2/10
- Wage exposure
- £39m £58m
Higher exposure than 63% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
-
Record names, types, and destinations of vessels passing through bridge openings or locks, and numbers of trains or vehicles crossing bridges.
-
Write and submit maintenance work requisitions.
-
Log data, such as water levels and weather conditions.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
-
Record names, types, and destinations of vessels passing through bridge openings or locks, and numbers of trains or vehicles crossing bridges.
-
Write and submit maintenance work requisitions.
-
Log data, such as water levels and weather conditions.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Bridge and Lock Tenders" (53-6011.00).
What AI can already do
4 of 18 tasks, unaided
Record names, types, and destinations of vessels passing through bridge openings or locks, and numbers of trains or vehicles crossing bridges.
Write and submit maintenance work requisitions.
Log data, such as water levels and weather conditions.
Prepare accident reports.
What still needs a person
14 of 18 tasks
Turn valves to increase or decrease water levels in locks.
Check that bridges are clear of vehicles and pedestrians prior to opening.
Control machinery to open and close canal locks and dams, railroad or highway drawbridges, or horizontally or vertically adjustable bridges.
Direct movements of vessels in locks or bridge areas, using signals, telecommunication equipment, or loudspeakers.
Observe position and progress of vessels to ensure best use of lock spaces or bridge opening spaces.
Stop automobile and pedestrian traffic on bridges, and lower automobile gates prior to moving bridges.
Raise drawbridges and observe passage of water traffic or lower drawbridges and raise automobile gates.
Maintain and guard stations in bridges to check waterways for boat traffic.
Observe approaching vessels to determine size and speed, and listen for whistle signals indicating desire to pass.
Move levers to activate traffic signals, navigation lights, and alarms.
Clean and lubricate equipment, and make minor repairs and adjustments.
Inspect canal and bridge equipment, and areas, such as roadbeds, for damage or defects, reporting problems to supervisors as necessary.
Attach ropes or cable lines to bitts on lock decks or wharfs to secure vessels.
Perform maintenance duties, such as sweeping, painting, and yard work to keep facilities clean and in order.
Tasks via O*NET "Bridge and Lock Tenders" (53-6011.00).
What AI can already do
4 of 18 tasks, with tools
Record names, types, and destinations of vessels passing through bridge openings or locks, and numbers of trains or vehicles crossing bridges.
Write and submit maintenance work requisitions.
Log data, such as water levels and weather conditions.
Prepare accident reports.
What still needs a person
14 of 18 tasks
Turn valves to increase or decrease water levels in locks.
Check that bridges are clear of vehicles and pedestrians prior to opening.
Control machinery to open and close canal locks and dams, railroad or highway drawbridges, or horizontally or vertically adjustable bridges.
Direct movements of vessels in locks or bridge areas, using signals, telecommunication equipment, or loudspeakers.
Observe position and progress of vessels to ensure best use of lock spaces or bridge opening spaces.
Stop automobile and pedestrian traffic on bridges, and lower automobile gates prior to moving bridges.
Raise drawbridges and observe passage of water traffic or lower drawbridges and raise automobile gates.
Maintain and guard stations in bridges to check waterways for boat traffic.
Observe approaching vessels to determine size and speed, and listen for whistle signals indicating desire to pass.
Move levers to activate traffic signals, navigation lights, and alarms.
Clean and lubricate equipment, and make minor repairs and adjustments.
Inspect canal and bridge equipment, and areas, such as roadbeds, for damage or defects, reporting problems to supervisors as necessary.
Attach ropes or cable lines to bitts on lock decks or wharfs to secure vessels.
Perform maintenance duties, such as sweeping, painting, and yard work to keep facilities clean and in order.
Stay on top of this.
An email when there is something worth reading: what is real in AI at work, what is noise, and what operators are doing about it.
Free. Unsubscribe any time.
Related occupations.
Other roles in Process, plant and machine operatives, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons