UK AI Exposure · Process, plant and machine operatives
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 genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
These are the highest-importance tasks a language model can already handle directly today. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these, so they stop eating your team's time.
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Record names, types, and destinations of vessels passing through bridge openings or locks, and numbers of trains or vehicles crossing bridges.
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Write and submit maintenance work requisitions.
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Log data, such as water levels and weather conditions.
These are the highest-importance tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these — usually the difference between an LLM that can technically do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Record names, types, and destinations of vessels passing through bridge openings or locks, and numbers of trains or vehicles crossing bridges.
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Write and submit maintenance work requisitions.
-
Log data, such as water levels and weather conditions.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
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.
Where humans still hold the line
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.
Where humans still hold the line
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.
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Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
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