Description
Tend, control, or operate power-driven, stationary, or portable pumps and manifold systems to transfer gases, oil, other liquids, slurries, or powdered materials to and from various vessels and processes.
- • Monitor gauges and flowmeters and inspect equipment to ensure that tank levels, temperatures, chemical amounts, and pressures are at specified levels, reporting abnormalities as necessary.
- • Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, stocks used, gauging results, and operating times.
- • Communicate with other workers, using signals, radios, or telephones, to start and stop flows of materials or substances.
- • Tend vessels that store substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials, checking levels of substances by using calibrated rods or by reading mercury gauges and tank charts.
- • Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.
- • Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of interconnections and capacities of pipelines, valve manifolds, pumps, and tankage.
- • Read operating schedules or instructions or receive verbal orders to determine amounts to be pumped.
- • Clean, lubricate, and repair pumps and vessels, using hand tools and equipment.
- • Collect and deliver sample solutions for laboratory analysis.
- • Connect hoses and pipelines to pumps and vessels prior to material transfer, using hand tools.
- • Tend auxiliary equipment such as water treatment and refrigeration units, and heat exchangers.
- • Add chemicals and solutions to tanks to ensure that specifications are met.
- • Pump two or more materials into one tank to blend mixtures.
- • Test materials and solutions, using testing equipment.
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Supply Chain & Transportation
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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Sources & Standards:
This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
