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Craft and related trades workers · code 7215

Riggers and cable splicers

Riggers and cable splicers assemble rigging gear to move and position equipment and structural components, or install and maintain cables, ropes and wires on construction sites, buildings or other structures. Tasks include - (a) estimating the size, shape and weight of objects to be moved and deciding on the type of equipment to move them; (b) installing and repairing cables, ropes, wires, pulleys and other tackle; (c) joining, repairing and fitting attachments to wires, ropes and cables; (d) working as member of a crew erecting and repairing derricks for drilling water, gas and oil wells; (e) lifting and mounting scenery, lighting and other equipment in theatres and on film sets; (f) installing and maintaining communication towers, aerial cableways, funicular railways, ski lifts and similar infrastructure. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Cable and rope splicer - Rigger - Ship rigger - Theatrical rigger - Tower rigger Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Cable splicing machine operator - 8189 - Crane, hoist and related plant operators - 8343

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 41 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • rigging supervisor
  • event scaffolder
  • tent installer
  • rigger

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

87.4
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 12.6 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 12.6 = 87.4

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

67.9
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, matched to one US job

52.8
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 42.9 · hand skill 44.6 · cramped spaces 70.8 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+ Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

More fine handwork, and more time in cramped or awkward spots, than a typical hands-on job. That is exactly what machines find hardest: they do best in tidy, predictable places.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

This number is probably too high

This score only looks at AI tools like chatbots. It doesn't look at robots at all — and this job rates 67.9 out of 100 for how hands-on it is, which is exactly where robots come in.

Have a look at the tasks below and judge for yourself. The ILO scored them low because a chatbot can't do them. Whether a machine with hands could is a different question, and we can't answer it yet.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 16.3, while the average is 12.6. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 16.3

    Estimating the size, shape and weight of objects to be moved and deciding on the type of equipment to move them

    Very Low
  2. 15.5

    Lifting and mounting scenery, lighting and other equipment in theatres and on film sets

    Very Low
  3. 12

    Joining, repairing and fitting attachments to wires, ropes and cables

    Very Low
  4. 11

    Installing and maintaining communication towers, aerial cableways, funicular railways, ski lifts and similar infrastructure.

    Very Low
  5. 10.5

    Installing and repairing cables, ropes, wires, pulleys and other tackle

    Very Low
  6. 10.5

    Working as member of crew erecting and repairing derricks for drilling water, gas and oil wells

    Very Low

6 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
50.5
AI does it for you
16.5

Helping wins by 34 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3991, 8217

Compared with similar jobs

There are 65 jobs in the “Craft and related trades workers” group, averaging 83.4. This one is above that.