{ "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register", "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/installation-maintenance-and-repair-workers-all-other/", "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology", "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.", "scored_at": "2026-08-11", "model": "claude-opus-5", "occupation": { "title": "Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers, All Other", "soc_code": "49-9099", "category": "Trades", "us_employment": 176300, "median_annual_wage": 49230 }, "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 62, "contested": false, "near_boundary": false, "dimensions": { "task_resistance": 16, "embodiment": 18, "liability_shield": 5, "trust_premium": 11, "judgment_accountability": 12 }, "reasoning": { "task_resistance": "Pulling a seized actuator, re-tensioning a gate chain, or replacing a bearing in a walk-in cooler compressor are irreducibly manual sequences where the fault is found by feel and sound before a part number ever gets typed, so only the ticket-writing and parts-lookup layer digitises — that mix of near-total manual core with a real clerical tail is what holds it at 16 rather than 19.", "embodiment": "The work happens on rooftops, in crawl spaces, on ladders over customer floors, at amusement ride understructures and loading docks — unmapped, weather-exposed, cluttered sites reached by van with no fixture, jig, or repeatable approach, which is why this sits at 18 and not in the low teens where a controlled shop bay would put it.", "liability_shield": "Most titles in this bucket — sign installers, gate and door techs, commercial equipment servicers — need no state license and no personal signature on a certificate; the 5 rather than 0 reflects that manufacturer factory certifications, elevator/ride-inspection adjacencies, and OSHA fall-protection or forklift cards do gate some assignments and specific accounts.", "trust_premium": "Facility managers and route customers request the tech who already knows which rooftop unit has the rewired contactor and which store manager to call before shutting a line down, and that repeat-account familiarity wins the recall — but the buyer is a purchase order for uptime, not the person, so it stops at 11.", "judgment_accountability": "Deciding whether to red-tag a ride or a rolling steel door, repair versus condemn a $30k piece of commercial equipment, or run a partial fix through a weekend service is discretion with real consequence, though most calls end up defended against a manufacturer service manual and a supervisor's approval rather than owned outright — hence 12." }, "rationale": "This is a catch-all bucket — commercial equipment techs, amusement ride mechanics, gate and door specialists, sign and fixture installers — and the modal worker spends the day physically diagnosing and fixing machinery in places no robot can navigate: rooftops, back-of-house rooms, customer sites, ladders. AI eats the paperwork around the job (service tickets, parts lookup, warranty forms, diagnostic tree guidance, scheduling and routing) but cannot get a stuck actuator out of a housing or feel that a bearing is going. Weakness is the shield: most of these titles have no license requirement and no personal sign-off liability, so nothing legally reserves the work for a human.", "outlook": "Demand holds through the decade because the physical work stays physical; the squeeze comes on hours billed for diagnosis and paperwork as remote monitoring and AI triage decide what gets a truck roll.", "what_would_raise_it": { "levers": [ { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "State adoption of ASTM F24 / F770 amusement ride inspection regimes that name a specific certified individual (e.g., NAARSO/AIMS Level II inspector) as the person who signs the annual ride-ready certificate and carries personal liability — already the pattern in NJ, PA, and CA ride inspection codes; extension of that named-signer model to automatic gates/barriers (ASTM F2200 + UL 325 compliance certification after fatal gate incidents) and to commercial door/dock equipment would push a large slice of this bucket from unlicensed to signature-bearing", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 6 }, { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "Insurer-driven rather than statutory: carriers writing commercial property or amusement liability requiring a named certified technician's inspection record as a condition of coverage or claim payment — visible already in elevator/escalator and boiler lines, and in venue insurance after ride litigation", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "judgment_accountability", "change": "Codified condemn/return-to-service authority — the tech, not the owner, decides a ride, gate, or lift stays out of service, with that call documented and defensible. Where inspection codes give an inspector authority to tag equipment out of service (as several state ride codes and OSHA lockout/tagout practice do), the role owns a consequential call under ambiguity rather than executing an owner's instruction", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 4 }, { "dimension": "task_resistance", "change": "Task-mix shift as AI absorbs the paperwork tier: if diagnostic trees, parts lookup, warranty filing, and routing are fully handled by vendor AI, the residual day is non-routine physical fault isolation on undocumented, modified, or obsolete equipment — the tier with no manual to consult. This raises the share of the day AI cannot do without raising headcount, and shows up as fewer techs each doing harder work", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 2 }, { "dimension": "trust_premium", "change": "Manufacturer authorized-servicer programs that void warranty unless a factory-trained named human performs the work — already standard in commercial kitchen, gaming, and dock equipment. Expansion, plus right-to-repair fights that make OEM authorization more valuable, keeps buyers paying for a specific credentialed person", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 2 } ], "ceiling_note": "The bucket is heterogeneous, so no single lever moves all 176k workers: ride mechanics and gate techs have a real path to a named-signer shield, while sign installers and fixture techs likely have none and would stay unlicensed. Aggregate movement is limited by the fact that liability shields attach to hazard classes (public safety, entrapment, crush risk), not to occupation titles." }, "adjudication": null, "employment_history": { "points": [ { "y": 2017, "emp": 153850, "wage": 38800 }, { "y": 2018, "emp": 157030, "wage": 39320 }, { "y": 2019, "emp": 161290, "wage": 39830 }, { "y": 2020, "emp": 151050, "wage": 42480 }, { "y": 2021, "emp": 164070, "wage": 42570 }, { "y": 2022, "emp": 172980, "wage": 44500 }, { "y": 2023, "emp": 175860, "wage": 46500 }, { "y": 2024, "emp": 183690, "wage": 48640 }, { "y": 2025, "emp": 176300, "wage": 49230 } ], "from": 2017, "to": 2025, "change_pct": 14.6, "comparable_from": 2019, "spans_soc_revision": true }, "pivots": [ { "slug": "ship-engineers", "title": "Ship Engineers", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 73, "median_wage": 109530, "overlap": 83, "skills_to_close": [ "Critical Thinking", "Equipment Maintenance", "Learning Strategies", "Repairing" ] }, { "slug": "heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers", "title": "Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 75, "median_wage": 61010, "overlap": 79, "skills_to_close": [ "Learning Strategies", "Persuasion" ] }, { "slug": "plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters", "title": "Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 86, "median_wage": 63800, "overlap": 76, "skills_to_close": [ "Installation" ] } ], "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms" }