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Date: 08/25/2025

Transportation Inspectors

Inspect equipment or goods in connection with the safe transport of cargo or people. Includes rail transportation inspectors, such as freight inspectors, rail inspectors, and other inspectors of transportation vehicles not elsewhere classified.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Direct crews to reload freight or to insert additional bracing or packing as necessary.
    • Read draft markings to determine depths of vessels in water.
    • Record details about freight conditions, handling of freight, and any problems encountered.
    • Prepare and submit reports after completion of freight shipments.
    • Inspect loaded cargo, cargo lashed to decks or in storage facilities, and cargo handling devices to determine compliance with health and safety regulations and need for maintenance.
    • Observe loading of freight to ensure that crews comply with procedures.
    • Determine cargo transportation capabilities by reading documents that set forth cargo loading and securing procedures, capacities, and stability factors.
    • Notify workers of any special treatment required for shipments.
    • Advise crews in techniques of stowing dangerous and heavy cargo.
    • Post warning signs on vehicles containing explosives or flammable or radioactive materials.
    • Check temperatures and humidities of shipping and storage areas to ensure that they are at appropriate levels to protect cargo.
    • Inspect shipments to ensure that freight is securely braced and blocked.
    • Measure heights and widths of loads to ensure they will pass over bridges or through tunnels on scheduled routes.
    • Recommend remedial procedures to correct any violations found during inspections.

    Skills

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    4
    Workplace Documents
    4
    Graphic Literacy
    4

    Abilities

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    Knowledge

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

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    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 79860/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 38.39/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 530
    • Yearly Projected Openings 50

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Dependability
    • Integrity
    • Attention to Detail
    • Adaptability/Flexibility
    • Initiative
    • Analytical Thinking

    Tools

    • Benchtop centrifuges
    • Calipers
    • Depth indicators
    • Desktop computers
    • Digital cameras
    • Floor or platform scales
    • Grease guns
    • Handheld thermometer
    • Hydrometers
    • Magnifiers
    • Notebook computers
    • Oil gun
    • Personal computers
    • Portable data input terminals
    • Sample holders
    • Scientific calculator
    • Tape measures
    • Water samplers
    • X ray radiography examination equipment

    Technology

    • Document management software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Internet browser software
    • Office suite software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Word processing software
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