Pipelayer

[1] Pipelayers may grade (i.e., level) trenches and culverts, position pipe, or seal joints.

[1] The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor estimated that there were 41,080 pipelayers in the United States in May 2014, earning a median hourly wage of $17.38 and a median annual wage of $37,000.

[2] One author summarizes the different tasks this way: Pipe layers operate the backhoes and trenching machinery that dig the trenches to accommodate the placement of sanitary sewer pipes and stormwater sewer drainpipes.

Using an always-open or always-closed valve called a tap, pipe layers connect them to a wider system and bury the pipes.Pipe fitters plan and test piping and tubing layouts, cut, bend or fabricate pipe or tubing segments and join those segments by threading them, using lead joints, welding, brazing, cementing or soldering them together.

These workers create the system of tubes in boilers and make holes in walls and bulkheads to accommodate the passage of the pipes they install.