An engineer was today recovering after his fingertips were lopped off by machinery at a Laindon firm.

Trevor Windsor was believed to have been trying to repair the equipment when the ends of his ring and little fingers on his left hand were sliced off.

Fellow workers at Red Carnation Gums, based in Bramston Link, packed his digits in ice and Mr Windsor was raced to Broomfield Hospital's burns and plastic surgery unit.

He is believed to have undergone an operation shortly after being brought in to reattach his fingers.

Peter Revoir, managing director of Red Carnation, confirmed: "Mr Windsor, an assistant engineer, did lose two small fingers on one of his hands.

"We manufacture ingredients and food for the pharmaceutical trade and I believe the accident involved a milling machine which processes powdered products.

"Mr Windsor is in hospital at the moment and I believe he has undergone an operation. He's in good spirits and chatting away and is doing fine."

Mr Revoir added that the accident would be thoroughly investigated.

He said: "We are legally obliged to follow certain procedures and we need to make sure safety rules were followed and this doesn't happen again."

If he stays in hospital for more than 24 hours or needs at least three days off work, the accident must be reported to the Health and Safety Executive.

Inspector Ian Lambie said: "The principal inspector in charge of a particular industry will look into the accident and see whether it meets our criteria to be investigated more fully."

A Broomfield Hospital spokesman today said Mr Windsor was doing very well.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.