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Craft and related trades workers · code 7542

Shotfirers and blasters

Shotfirers and blasters position, assemble and detonate explosives at mining, quarrying and demolition sites. Tasks include - (a) ensuring that workplace safety and explosives handling, storage and transport procedures and regulations are followed; (b) planning and giving instructions for the layout, depth and diameter of blast holes; (c) checking depth and cleanliness of blast holes; (d) determining quantity and type of explosives to be used; (e) loading explosives into blast holes; (f) assembling, or directing other workers to assemble, primer charges using detonators and explosive cartridges, and attaching electrical wires, fuses and detonating cords to primers; (g) connecting wires, fuses and detonator cords into series, testing electrical circuits and repairing malfunctions, and connecting series to blasting machines; (h) covering charges, filling blast holes with rock dust, sand and other materials, and tamping material to compact charges; (i) ensuring that all explosives are detonated, and reporting and attending to misfires; (j) declaring blast areas safe before and after detonation of explosives; (k) compiling and maintaining records about usage of explosives in compliance with laws and regulations. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Blaster - Powderman - Powder monkey - Shotfirer Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Mining supervisor - 3121 - Driller (mining) - 8111 - Driller (oil or gas well) - 8113 - Mining labourer - 9311 - Quarry labourer - 9311

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 32 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • shotfirer

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

88
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 12 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 12 = 88

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

76.6
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, matched to one US job

47.2
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 50 · hand skill 59 · cramped spaces 32.5 · 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 76.6 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 24.3, while the average is 12. 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. 24.3

    Compiling and maintaining records about usage of explosives in compliance with laws and regulations.

    Very Low
  2. 14.5

    Planning and giving instructions for the layout, depth and diameter of blast holes

    Very Low
  3. 14

    Checking depth and cleanliness of blast holes

    Very Low
  4. 12.8

    Connecting wires, fuses and detonator cords into series, testing electrical circuits and repairing malfunctions, and connecting series to blasting machines

    Very Low
  5. 11.5

    Determining quantity and type of explosives to be used

    Very Low
  6. 11

    Ensuring all explosives are detonated, and reporting and attending to misfires

    Very Low
  7. 10.8

    Loading explosives into blast holes

    Very Low
  8. 10.3

    Declaring blast areas safe before and after detonation of explosives

    Very Low
  9. 9.6

    Assembling, or directing other workers to assemble, primer charges using detonators and explosive cartridges, and attaching electrical wires, fuses and detonating cords to primers

    Very Low
  10. 8

    Covering charges, filling blast holes with rock dust, sand and other materials, and tamping material to compact charges

    Very Low
  11. 5

    Ensuring workplace safety and explosives handling, storage and transport procedures and regulations are followed

    Very Low

11 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.

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

AI helps you
50
AI does it for you
24

Helping wins by 26 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 7122

Compared with similar jobs

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