Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
Operate industrial trucks or tractors equipped to move materials around a warehouse, storage yard, factory, construction site, or similar location.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Operations Monitoring
- Coordination
- Equipment Maintenance
- Troubleshooting
- Time Management
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
Key knowledge
- Mathematics
- English Language
- Production and Processing
- Transportation
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- Administrative
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- Move controls to drive gasoline- or electric-powered trucks, cars, or tractors and transport materials between loading, processing, and storage areas.
- Move levers or controls that operate lifting devices, such as forklifts, lift beams with swivel-hooks, hoists, or elevating platforms, to load, unload, transport, or stack material.
- Position lifting devices under, over, or around loaded pallets, skids, or boxes and secure material or products for transport to designated areas.
- Inspect product load for accuracy and safely move it around the warehouse or facility to ensure timely and complete delivery.
- Manually or mechanically load or unload materials from pallets, skids, platforms, cars, lifting devices, or other transport vehicles.
- Perform routine maintenance on vehicles or auxiliary equipment, such as cleaning, lubricating, recharging batteries, fueling, or replacing liquefied-gas tank.
- Weigh materials or products and record weight or other production data on tags or labels.
- Operate or tend automatic stacking, loading, packaging, or cutting machines.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (73.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (44.1%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (53.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 71% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 82% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 73% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 57% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 90% of occupations compared | 75% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 90% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 63% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 94% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 17.01%
- Contact with others about half the time: 11.06%
- Contact with others most of the time: 19.14%
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 59.04%
- Fairly important: 2.66%
- Important: 1.33%
- Very important: 5.42%
- Extremely important: 31.54%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 20.35%
- Important: 12.52%
- Very important: 15.48%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 4.81%
- Limited freedom: 14.33%
- Some freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 1.33%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.11%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.94%
- Every day: 74.61%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 25.39%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 40.84%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.01%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.76%
- Every day: 2.01%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 28.93%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.09%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 4.81%
- Every day: 24.05%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 3.53%
- Fairly serious: 7.39%
- Serious: 11.2%
- Very serious: 14.73%
- Extremely serious: 63.16%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2021
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
- Analyze
Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
Closeness 94/100
- Analyze
Construction Laborers
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Closeness 93/100
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 53-7051.00 · SOC 53-7051 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8