Skip to content
man bot
Compare

Craft and related trades workers · code 7542

Shotfirers and blasters

AI can help plan the blast. Handling the explosives is not a job for a chatbot.

AI barely touches any of the eleven tasks, from planning blast holes and keeping explosives records to packing charges and handling explosives safely. Probably for the best.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

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

  • 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 / 100

Strongly holds up against AI

Most of this job still needs an actual human. AI would mostly be making the tea.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

32 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 11 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 12 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 12 = 88.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 77 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Shotfirers and blasters 88

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Blast design and hole layout planning.
  • Explosives records and compliance paperwork.
  • Vibration and dust monitoring.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Handling and loading explosives safely.
  • Checking holes and dealing with misfires.
  • Deciding when an area is safe.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Electronic detonators and digital blast planning.
  • Drone surveys before and after blasts.
  • Stricter environmental monitoring.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Low

24 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 50 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

77 how hands-on

Most of this job needs hands, a body or turning up. That's robot territory, and nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to give you a number. We won't make one up.

So could a robot do the physical part?

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.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 47 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

77 How
hands-on
47 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, matched to one US job .

finger skill 50 · hand skill 59 · cramped spaces 32.5 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+

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 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 24, against an average of 12. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 24

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

    Very Low
  2. 14

    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. 13

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

    Very Low
  5. 12

    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. 11

    Loading explosives into blast holes

    Very Low
  8. 10

    Declaring blast areas safe before and after detonation of explosives

    Very Low
  9. 10

    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 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
50
AI does it for you
24

Sidekick wins, by 26 points.

How good a match is this?

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

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 7122

So, should shotfirers be worried?

Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.

No. The most exposed task is keeping records of explosives use, and even that rates Very Low. Blast design software helps plan hole patterns and paperwork, but loading, checking and declaring an area safe stays with a qualified person.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 65 jobs in the “Craft and related trades workers” family, averaging 83. This one is above the family average.

Pit this against any other job →