Chemical Plant and System Operators
Production Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 51-8091.00
Control or operate entire chemical processes or system of machines.
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
Low· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.000
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.29
0.09Range of values carried here0.70Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
Task-level exposure
Exposed tasks only19 rated tasks · 5 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (26.3%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- All rated tasks are in the O*NET 31.0 task list.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
| Task (O*NET 20.1) | Claude.aiRaw / share % |
|---|---|
Calculate material requirements or yields according to formulas.51-8091.00 | 0.001836.7 |
Interpret chemical reactions visible through sight glasses or on television monitors and review laboratory test reports for process adjustments.51-8091.00 | 0.001632.7 |
Record operating data, such as process conditions, test results, or instrument readings.51-8091.00 | 0.001530.6 |
| Not observed on any surface — 16 task(s) — These tasks have no row in the source for this release. The 0 in the share row is a display-stage composition ratio; absence is what the — in the raw row states. | |
Move control settings to make necessary adjustments on equipment units affecting speeds of chemical reactions, quality, or yields. | —0 |
Monitor recording instruments, flowmeters, panel lights, or other indicators and listen for warning signals, to verify conformity of process conditions. | —0 |
Control or operate chemical processes or systems of machines, using panelboards, control boards, or semi-automatic equipment. | —0 |
Confer with technical and supervisory personnel to report or resolve conditions affecting safety, efficiency, or product quality. | —0 |
Draw samples of products and conduct quality control tests to monitor processing and to ensure that standards are met. | —0 |
Regulate or shut down equipment during emergency situations, as directed by supervisory personnel. | —0 |
Start pumps to wash and rinse reactor vessels, to exhaust gases or vapors, to regulate the flow of oil, steam, air, or perfume to towers, or to add products to converter or blending vessels. | —0 |
Patrol work areas to ensure that solutions in tanks or troughs are not in danger of overflowing. | —0 |
Notify maintenance, stationary-engineering, or other auxiliary personnel to correct equipment malfunctions or to adjust power, steam, water, or air supplies. | —0 |
Inspect operating units, such as towers, soap-spray storage tanks, scrubbers, collectors, or driers to ensure that all are functioning and to maintain maximum efficiency. | —0 |
Turn valves to regulate flow of products or byproducts through agitator tanks, storage drums, or neutralizer tanks. | —0 |
Repair or replace damaged equipment. | —0 |
Direct workers engaged in operating machinery that regulates the flow of materials and products. | —0 |
Gauge tank levels, using calibrated rods. | —0 |
Defrost frozen valves, using steam hoses. | —0 |
Supervise the cleaning of towers, strainers, or spray tips. | —0 |
Values in this tab are predicted labels, not observations. Eloundou et al. (2023) published two rating regimes — human raters and GPT-4 — and the β shown here is derived from the GPT-4 rater basis alone; the same task can take a different value under the other regime. The unit and the meaning differ from the observed shares (%) in the other tabs, so do not place them on the same axis.
| Task (O*NET 27.2) | βE1 + 0.5 × E2 |
|---|---|
Calculate material requirements or yields according to formulas.O*NET Task ID 10507 | 1.0 |
Record operating data, such as process conditions, test results, or instrument readings.O*NET Task ID 10496 | 0.5 |
Confer with technical and supervisory personnel to report or resolve conditions affecting safety, efficiency, or product quality.O*NET Task ID 10497 | 0.5 |
Draw samples of products and conduct quality control tests to monitor processing and to ensure that standards are met.O*NET Task ID 10498 | 0.5 |
Interpret chemical reactions visible through sight glasses or on television monitors and review laboratory test reports for process adjustments.O*NET Task ID 10501 | 0.5 |
Move control settings to make necessary adjustments on equipment units affecting speeds of chemical reactions, quality, or yields.O*NET Task ID 10493 | 0.0 |
Monitor recording instruments, flowmeters, panel lights, or other indicators and listen for warning signals to verify conformity of process conditions.O*NET Task ID 10494 | 0.0 |
Control or operate chemical processes or systems of machines, using panelboards, control boards, or semi-automatic equipment.O*NET Task ID 10495 | 0.0 |
Regulate or shut down equipment during emergency situations, as directed by supervisory personnel.O*NET Task ID 10499 | 0.0 |
Start pumps to wash and rinse reactor vessels, to exhaust gases or vapors, to regulate the flow of oil, steam, air, or perfume to towers, or to add products to converter or blending vessels.O*NET Task ID 10500 | 0.0 |
Patrol work areas to ensure that solutions in tanks or troughs are not in danger of overflowing.O*NET Task ID 10502 | 0.0 |
Notify maintenance, stationary engineering, or other auxiliary personnel to correct equipment malfunctions or to adjust power, steam, water, or air supplies.O*NET Task ID 10503 | 0.0 |
Inspect operating units, such as towers, soap-spray storage tanks, scrubbers, collectors, or driers to ensure that all are functioning and to maintain maximum efficiency.O*NET Task ID 10504 | 0.0 |
Direct workers engaged in operating machinery that regulates the flow of materials and products.O*NET Task ID 10505 | 0.0 |
Turn valves to regulate flow of products or byproducts through agitator tanks, storage drums, or neutralizer tanks.O*NET Task ID 10506 | 0.0 |
Gauge tank levels, using calibrated rods.O*NET Task ID 10508 | 0.0 |
Repair or replace damaged equipment.O*NET Task ID 10509 | 0.0 |
Defrost frozen valves, using steam hoses.O*NET Task ID 10510 | 0.0 |
Supervise the cleaning of towers, strainers, or spray tips.O*NET Task ID 10511 | 0.0 |
β = E1 + 0.5 × E2 · E1 = tasks where direct LLM access alone cuts time by at least 50%, E2 = tasks where software built on top of an LLM cuts time by at least 50%. Values take only 0 / 0.5 / 1.0.
Data sources & licenses — O*NET®, Anthropic Economic Index, Eloundou et al. (2023): see full notices on the Credits page
All O*NET 31.0 task statements (19)
All O*NET 31.0 task statements for this occupation (English, as published; task type core or supplemental). Exposure values are not listed here; they are in the table above, next to each task statement as worded in the O*NET version each source used.
| Task (O*NET 31.0) | Type |
|---|---|
| Move control settings to make necessary adjustments on equipment units affecting speeds of chemical reactions, quality, or yields. | Core |
| Monitor recording instruments, flowmeters, panel lights, or other indicators and listen for warning signals to verify conformity of process conditions. | Core |
| Control or operate chemical processes or systems of machines, using panelboards, control boards, or semi-automatic equipment. | Core |
| Record operating data, such as process conditions, test results, or instrument readings. | Core |
| Confer with technical and supervisory personnel to report or resolve conditions affecting safety, efficiency, or product quality. | Core |
| Draw samples of products and conduct quality control tests to monitor processing and to ensure that standards are met. | Core |
| Regulate or shut down equipment during emergency situations, as directed by supervisory personnel. | Core |
| Start pumps to wash and rinse reactor vessels, to exhaust gases or vapors, to regulate the flow of oil, steam, air, or perfume to towers, or to add products to converter or blending vessels. | Core |
| Interpret chemical reactions visible through sight glasses or on television monitors and review laboratory test reports for process adjustments. | Core |
| Patrol work areas to ensure that solutions in tanks or troughs are not in danger of overflowing. | Core |
| Notify maintenance, stationary engineering, or other auxiliary personnel to correct equipment malfunctions or to adjust power, steam, water, or air supplies. | Core |
| Inspect operating units, such as towers, soap-spray storage tanks, scrubbers, collectors, or driers to ensure that all are functioning and to maintain maximum efficiency. | Core |
| Direct workers engaged in operating machinery that regulates the flow of materials and products. | Core |
| Turn valves to regulate flow of products or byproducts through agitator tanks, storage drums, or neutralizer tanks. | Core |
| Calculate material requirements or yields according to formulas. | Core |
| Gauge tank levels, using calibrated rods. | Core |
| Repair or replace damaged equipment. | Core |
| Defrost frozen valves, using steam hoses. | Core |
| Supervise the cleaning of towers, strainers, or spray tips. | Core |
0.44/ 3· Robot exposure index
Scale, basis and source
Each physical task is graded 0–3 by the setting in which robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated could do it (0 none · 1 purpose-built robot settings such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line · 2 structured facilities such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port · 3 unstructured settings such as a private home or a construction site), and the grades are averaged by share of working time
Physical tasks among this occupation's O*NET 29.3 tasks
Anthropic estimated the grades and time shares with Claude Opus 5 using web search, as of 2026.
The robot exposure index is a different measure from the AI exposure figures on this site and cannot be added to or compared with them. It does not measure actual adoption or cost, and 0 also covers occupations with no physical tasks.
Tier of each physical task
Robot environment tiers (E0–E3)
E0 noneDetails
Rated not doable by robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated, even in a purpose-built setting
E1 purpose-built robot settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting built around the machine, such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line
E2 structured facilitiesDetails
Rated doable in a human work facility that an institution keeps to a working standard, such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port
E3 unstructured settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting that no institution keeps to a working standard, such as a private home or a construction site
Only tasks classified as physical are listed; other tasks have no tier in the source.
| Task (O*NET 29.3) | Robot environment tier |
|---|---|
| Draw samples of products and conduct quality control tests to monitor processing and to ensure that standards are met. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
| Regulate or shut down equipment during emergency situations, as directed by supervisory personnel. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
| Start pumps to wash and rinse reactor vessels, to exhaust gases or vapors, to regulate the flow of oil, steam, air, or perfume to towers, or to add products to converter or blending vessels. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
| Patrol work areas to ensure that solutions in tanks or troughs are not in danger of overflowing. | E2 structured facilities |
| Inspect operating units, such as towers, soap-spray storage tanks, scrubbers, collectors, or driers to ensure that all are functioning and to maintain maximum efficiency. | E2 structured facilities |
| Turn valves to regulate flow of products or byproducts through agitator tanks, storage drums, or neutralizer tanks. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
| Repair or replace damaged equipment. | E0 none |
| Gauge tank levels, using calibrated rods. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
| Defrost frozen valves, using steam hoses. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
| Supervise the cleaning of towers, strainers, or spray tips. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
Occupation information
Employment outlook (BLS)
- Employment, 2025
- 17K
- Projected employment, 2035
- 16K
- Change (2025–35)
- -5.2%
- Median annual wage, 2025
- $78,120
- Typical education needed for entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Korea classification links (KSCO)
Links from the current release of the Korea Occupation Direct Crosswalk v1.1, made by AI Changing Work. Relation values are read from the O*NET-SOC occupation side.
| KSCO code | KSCO title | Relation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 83124 | 화학물 증류기 및 반응기 조작원 | Overlapping, not the same | confirmed |
| 83214 | 비료 생산기 조작원 | Related, not a match | confirmed |
| 83216 | 가스 생산기 조작원 | Related, not a match | confirmed |
Relation and status definitions(kr-direct v1.1)
ILO occupational description
AI Changing Work links the ISCO-08 unit groups below to this occupation by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (2018 SOC to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to ISCO-08) as published, without case-by-case selection; each link may be whole or partial.
- ISCO-08 3133Chemical Processing Plant Controllers
Sources: ILO ISCO-08 — details: Credits
ESCO occupational vocabulary
Each entry below is matched to this occupation in the published ESCO-O*NET Crosswalk (version 1, 2022). The match types are that crosswalk's; the wording is AI Changing Work's.
- air separation plant operatorESCO 3133.1.1This occupation is broader
Air separation plant operators control and maintain the equipment for nitrogen and oxygen extraction from air, ensuring the required operational parameters of pressure, flow and temperature are met. They perform product purity tests and monitor its transfer to storage tanks or to fill cylinders.
- chemical mixerESCO 8131.2This occupation is broader
Chemical mixers operate and maintain mixing tanks and blenders in order to develop chemical products out of raw materials, making sure the end products are in conformance to the batch tickets specifications.
- chemical plant control room operatorESCO 3133.1.3This occupation is broader
Chemical plant control room operators monitor and inspect remotely the production systems during their shift, reporting all anomalies and incidents using the required systems. They operate the control room panels and ensure the safety of production workers and production equipment.
- chemical processing plant controllerESCO 3133.1This occupation is broader
Chemical processing plant controllers control the chemical production process. They operate machines and systems, being responsible to monitor and maintain the equipment and the instruments in control.
- nitrator operatorESCO 8131.12This occupation is broader
Nitrator operators monitor and control equipment that processes chemical substances to produce explosives. They are responsible for the product storage in tanks.
- nitroglycerin separator operatorESCO 8131.14This occupation is broader
Nitroglycerin separator operators maintain the gravity separator, used in explosives processing, controlling the temperature and liquid flow, in order to separate nitroglycerin from spent acids.
- soap drier operatorESCO 8131.19.2This occupation is broader
Soap drier operators control and maintain viscous soap machine to produce soap flakes. They perform sample tests and coordinate the dried flakes discharge into storage bins.
- soap tower operatorESCO 8131.20This occupation is broader
Soap tower operators control, monitor and maintain tower operations, using the control panel, in order to produce soap powders. They inspect operating units to ensure the parameters of flow of oil, air, perfume or steam are according to specifications.
Source: European Commission, DG EMPL — ESCO API 2026-08-08 (bridge v1.2.1)
License: CC BY 4.0 (EU Reuse Notice)
ESCO reuse terms and the modification notice are in Credits.
France classification links (ROME)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and ROME 4.0 job profiles, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side. Links marked “provisional” were adopted on the judgments of two judges from the same model family (Claude) alone, or by an operator rule applied to their judgments, so they rest on weaker evidence than confirmed links.
| ROME code | ROME title (French) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| H2301 | Conducteur / Conductrice de ligne en industrie chimique | This occupation is broaderprovisional |
| H2304 | Opérateur / Opératrice de fabrication des industries chimiques | Overlapping, not the sameprovisional |
| H2302 | Conducteur / Conductrice de procédé de fabrication en industrie pharmaceutique | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: France Travail — Répertoire Opérationnel des Métiers et des Emplois (ROME 4.0), version 61, last updated 15 June 2026 (https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/repertoire-operationnel-des-metiers-et-des-emplois-rome). Licence Ouverte 2.0.
ROME codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET-SOC occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a France Travail correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: fr-direct v1)
Spain classification links (CNO-11)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and CNO-11 occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| CNO-11 code | CNO-11 title (Spanish) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 3133 | Técnicos en control de instalaciones de procesamiento de productos químicos | Same scopeprovisional |
| 8131 | Operadores en plantas industriales químicas | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), National Classification of Occupations 2011 (CNO-11, Royal Decree 1591/2010) — www.ine.es · Licensed CC BY 4.0. CNO-11 codes and Spanish titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not an INE correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: es-direct v1)
Germany classification links (KldB)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and KldB occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| KldB code | KldB title (German) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 41312 | Berufe in der Chemie- und Pharmatechnik - fachlich ausgerichtete Tätigkeiten | This occupation is narrower |
| 41333 | Steuerer/Steuerinnen von chemischen Verfahrensanlagen - komplexe Spezialistentätigkeiten | This occupation is broader |
Source: © Statistik der Bundesagentur für Arbeit — Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 – überarbeitete Fassung 2020, https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de. KldB codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own mapping (eigene Zuordnung) and are not a Bundesagentur für Arbeit correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: de-direct v1)
Japan classification links (JSCO)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and JSCO occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| JSCO code | JSCO title (Japanese) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 501 | 化学製品生産設備制御・監視員 | This occupation is narrowerprovisional |
| 531 | 化学製品製造従事者 | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Dec. 2009, MIC Notification No. 555). JSCO codes and Japanese titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a MIC correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: jp-direct v1)
Sources, licenses and AI Changing Work's modification and translation notices for this page: Credits & sources