Riggers

Overview

Riggers has a national median salary of $62,640 per year, with +3.9% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

Set up or repair rigging for construction projects, manufacturing plants, logging yards, ships and shipyards, or for the entertainment industry.

Work Values

• Relationships
• Support
• Working Conditions

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Test rigging to ensure safety and reliability.
• Signal or verbally direct workers engaged in hoisting and moving loads to ensure safety of workers and materials.
• Control movement of heavy equipment through narrow openings or confined spaces, using chainfalls, gin poles, gallows frames, and other equipment.
• Tilt, dip, and turn suspended loads to maneuver over, under, or around obstacles, using multi-point suspension techniques.
• Select gear, such as cables, pulleys, and winches, according to load weights and sizes, facilities, and work schedules.

Work Activities

• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Handling and Moving Objects
• Performing General Physical Activities
• Getting Information
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Documenting/Recording Information
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings

Detailed Work Activities

• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished an associate's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Associate's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a high school diploma or equivalent.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Riggers:

Video Resources