Hoist and Winch Operators
Operate or tend hoists or winches to lift and pull loads using power-operated cable equipment.
2,600 people do this job in the US. $56,450 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 0%
- 0%
- 100%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 0%. Today's estimate: 0%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 13 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repair, maintain, and adjust equipment, using hand tools.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 25% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Move or reposition hoists, winches, loads and materials, manually or using equipment and machines such as trucks, cars, and hand trucks.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 10% | 29 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Observe equipment gauges and indicators and hand signals of other workers to verify load positions or depths.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 10% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Operate compressed air, diesel, electric, gasoline, or steam-driven hoists or winches to control movement of cableways, cages, derricks, draglines, loaders, railcars, or skips.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Start engines of hoists or winches and use levers and pedals to wind or unwind cable on drums.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Move levers, pedals, and throttles to stop, start, and regulate speeds of hoist or winch drums in response to hand, bell, buzzer, telephone, loud-speaker, or whistle signals, or by observing dial indicators or cable marks.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 8% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Tend auxiliary equipment, such as jacks, slings, cables, or stop blocks, to facilitate moving items or materials for further processing.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Climb ladders to position and set up vehicle-mounted derricks.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 33 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Signal and assist other workers loading or unloading materials.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Select loads or materials according to weight and size specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Attach, fasten, and disconnect cables or lines to loads, materials, and equipment, using hand tools.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 3% | 15 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Apply hand or foot brakes and move levers to lock hoists or winches.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 2% | 3 min2 min to 8 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Riggers7% now, 7% by 2028
- Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators0% now, 0% by 2028
- Crane and Tower Operators8% now, 8% by 2028
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators9% now, 9% by 2028
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining10% now, 10% by 2028
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines5% now, 5% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).