Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) Collection Manual Third Edition Instructions in this manual became effective July 2017. It includes updated procedures information from Procedure Alerts through #181, Technical Memorandums through #322, and applicable ORS SO-70s through #32. U. S. Department of Labor Office of Compensation and Bureau of Labor Statistics Working Conditions Washington, D. C. 20212 July 2017 Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... i Preface ............................................................................................................................................ v Introduction .................................................................................................................................. vi Information Reference Guide .................................................................................................... vii Major Changes to ORS Manual (July 2017) ........................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Key Concepts ............................................................................................................. 1 1_01 Task, Worker, Job, Occupation ........................................................................................... 2 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and O*NET ............................... 3 1_02 Work as Generally Performed, Critical Job Function, Critical and Incidental Tasks ......... 4 1_03 Job Demands ....................................................................................................................... 6 1_04 Thresholds ........................................................................................................................... 7 1_05 Duration ............................................................................................................................... 8 Duration for critical tasks that occur less than daily ..................................................... 8 1_06 Accommodations ................................................................................................................. 9 1_07 Mitigation .......................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Collection Strategies ................................................................................................ 11 2_01 Use Job Descriptions and Other Descriptive Documents to Prepare for Collection ......... 12 2_02 Identify a Collection Approach ......................................................................................... 13 2_03 Prioritize to Maximize Data Collected .............................................................................. 14 2_04 Take Advantage of Opportunities to Observe Workers on Jobs ....................................... 15 Chapter 3: Classifying Jobs ....................................................................................................... 16 3_01 SOC Classification ............................................................................................................ 17 Using O*NET ............................................................................................................. 17 Classifying combination jobs ...................................................................................... 17 Residual occupations .................................................................................................. 18 3_02 Job Characteristics ............................................................................................................. 20 3_03 Work Schedules ................................................................................................................. 21 3_04 Other ORS Variations ........................................................................................................ 22 Chapter 4: Task Lists ................................................................................................................. 23 4_01 Collecting Task Lists ......................................................................................................... 24 i 4_02 Use of Job Descriptions in Creating Task Lists ................................................................ 27 4_03 Documenting an ORS Task List ........................................................................................ 28 4_04 Consistency between Task List and Element Coding ....................................................... 30 Proceeding when respondent answers are incomplete ................................................ 30 4_05 Job Demands when Traveling is Involved ........................................................................ 33 Chapter 5: Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) ................................................................. 34 5_01 Computing SVP Level ....................................................................................................... 35 Understanding SVP levels and job skill levels ........................................................... 35 Calculating SVP – an example ................................................................................... 36 5_02 Avoiding Errors that can Result in Over- or Understatement ........................................... 37 When to use ‘Unknown’ and ‘Not required’ .............................................................. 37 Coding a non-levelable job ......................................................................................... 37 Collecting concurrent SVP time ................................................................................. 38 5_03 Collecting Minimum Education ........................................................................................ 39 Guidance for collecting Minimum Education ............................................................. 40 5_04 Collecting Pre-employment Training ................................................................................ 43 Guidance for collecting Pre-employment Training .................................................... 44 Counting Semester Units ............................................................................................ 45 5_05 Collecting Experience ....................................................................................................... 47 5_06 Collecting Post-employment Training .............................................................................. 48 Guidance for collecting for Post-employment Training ............................................. 48 Collecting post-employment training for non-standard work schedules .................... 50 Chapter 6: Cognitive Elements .................................................................................................. 52 6_01 Collecting Decision-making .............................................................................................. 53 6_02 Collecting Work Review ................................................................................................... 55 6_03 Collecting Pace .................................................................................................................. 57 How to collect Pace of Work ...................................................................................... 57 How to collect the Control of Workflow .................................................................... 59 6_04 Collecting Adaptability ..................................................................................................... 61 6_05 Collecting Work-Related Personal Interactions ................................................................ 64 How to collect the purpose of interaction ................................................................... 65 How to collect frequency of contact ........................................................................... 68 Chapter 7: Physical Demands .................................................................................................... 69 ii 7_01 Collecting Physical Demands ............................................................................................ 70 Concurrent Physical Demands .................................................................................... 72 7_02 Collecting Sitting vs. Standing/Walking ........................................................................... 73 Collecting duration for Sitting vs. Standing/Walking................................................. 74 Collecting Sitting/Standing at Will ............................................................................. 75 7_03 Collecting Lifting/Carrying ............................................................................................... 76 How to collect Lifting/Carrying: ................................................................................ 76 When to use ‘Negligible’ and ‘None’ ......................................................................... 79 7_04 Collecting Pushing/Pulling ................................................................................................ 80 Understanding thresholds for Pushing/Pulling ........................................................... 80 How to collect Pushing/Pulling .................................................................................. 82 7_05 Collecting Reaching .........................................................................................................