Scaffolders, stagers and riggers
Scaffolders, stagers and riggers erect and dismantle scaffolding and working platforms, set up lifting equipment and ships’ rigging, maintain and repair steeples, industrial chimneys and other tall structures and install, maintain and repair ropes, wires and cables.
- Employees (UK)
- -
- Median annual pay
- -
- Exposure score ?
- 0.0/10 Minimal 0.0/10 Minimal strict reading, with tools is 0.0/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.0/10
- Wage exposure
- - -
Higher exposure than 8% 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.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Test rigging to ensure safety and reliability.
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Signal or verbally direct workers engaged in hoisting and moving loads to ensure safety of workers and materials.
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Control movement of heavy equipment through narrow openings or confined spaces, using chainfalls, gin poles, gallows frames, and other equipment.
For this role the labels do not surface obvious candidates, so the work would start with the highest-stakes tasks below and find the AI angle in conversation.
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Test rigging to ensure safety and reliability.
-
Signal or verbally direct workers engaged in hoisting and moving loads to ensure safety of workers and materials.
-
Control movement of heavy equipment through narrow openings or confined spaces, using chainfalls, gin poles, gallows frames, and other equipment.
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 "Riggers" (49-9096.00).
What AI can already do
0 of 14 tasks, unaided
No tasks here are labelled as something an LLM can do unaided. Switch to 'With tools' above to see what changes when AI is paired with the right context.
What still needs a person
14 of 14 tasks
Test rigging to ensure safety and reliability.
Signal or verbally direct workers engaged in hoisting and moving loads to ensure safety of workers and materials.
Control movement of heavy equipment through narrow openings or confined spaces, using chainfalls, gin poles, gallows frames, and other equipment.
Tilt, dip, and turn suspended loads to maneuver over, under, or around obstacles, using multi-point suspension techniques.
Select gear, such as cables, pulleys, and winches, according to load weights and sizes, facilities, and work schedules.
Dismantle and store rigging equipment after use.
Attach loads to rigging to provide support or prepare them for moving, using hand and power tools.
Manipulate rigging lines, hoists, and pulling gear to move or support materials, such as heavy equipment, ships, or theatrical sets.
Align, level, and anchor machinery.
Install ground rigging for yarding lines, attaching chokers to logs and to the lines.
Load machines onto trucks to prepare for transportation.
Attach pulleys and blocks to fixed overhead structures, such as beams, ceilings, and gin pole booms, using bolts and clamps.
Fabricate, set up, and repair rigging, supporting structures, hoists, and pulling gear, using hand and power tools.
Clean and dress machine surfaces and component parts.
Tasks via O*NET "Riggers" (49-9096.00).
What AI can already do
0 of 14 tasks, with tools
Even with tools, no tasks here are labelled as something AI can do today. The work is judgment, presence, or context-heavy enough that the academic labelling sees no leverage.
What still needs a person
14 of 14 tasks
Test rigging to ensure safety and reliability.
Signal or verbally direct workers engaged in hoisting and moving loads to ensure safety of workers and materials.
Control movement of heavy equipment through narrow openings or confined spaces, using chainfalls, gin poles, gallows frames, and other equipment.
Tilt, dip, and turn suspended loads to maneuver over, under, or around obstacles, using multi-point suspension techniques.
Select gear, such as cables, pulleys, and winches, according to load weights and sizes, facilities, and work schedules.
Dismantle and store rigging equipment after use.
Attach loads to rigging to provide support or prepare them for moving, using hand and power tools.
Manipulate rigging lines, hoists, and pulling gear to move or support materials, such as heavy equipment, ships, or theatrical sets.
Align, level, and anchor machinery.
Install ground rigging for yarding lines, attaching chokers to logs and to the lines.
Load machines onto trucks to prepare for transportation.
Attach pulleys and blocks to fixed overhead structures, such as beams, ceilings, and gin pole booms, using bolts and clamps.
Fabricate, set up, and repair rigging, supporting structures, hoists, and pulling gear, using hand and power tools.
Clean and dress machine surfaces and component parts.
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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