A BURNLEY engineer has been rewarded for his heroic efforts at work.

Philip Cage, a development engineer at Robert McBride Ltd, in Windermere Avenue, has been declared the North West's Hero at Work.

He will now battle it out against nine other employees from firms across the UK in the national final of the competition.

The 41-year-old has worked for the firm, which makes household cleaning products, for 14 years and has invented many labour and money saving devices for the firm, including one to produce and pack soluble washing liquid capsules.

His boss, Alan Ridehalgh, nominated him for the award. Alan said: "Philip is very resourceful and innovative when it comes to designing and building machinery for special purposes.

"He developed a machine to produce and pack soluble sachets of washing liquid, which put us well ahead of the competition and also helped us gain contracts."

Philip, a father of three, of Keighley Road, Colne, has won a champagne weekend break for two and £1,000-worth of products from RS, a leading supplier of industrial products, which ran the competition.

On Sunday, June 27, he will travel to London with his wife Jacqueline for the national final to find Britain's Hero at Work 2004.

But Philip is modest about his new title and the prospect of winning the national competition.

He said: "All I do is do my job, but some people seem to think I do a bit more than that. It was a shock to win the award.

"I really enjoy what I do and to be recognised for something that you love doing by your boss and peers is great."