An Australia Post employee has expressed “disgust” that work continued at a Queensland warehouse on Thursday despite a colleague dying suddenly while unloading a truck.

An ambulance was called to the site on Perwillowen Road, Burnside at about 2.50am, with police attending an hour later to cordon off the area and manage the scene.

Queensland Police told The New Daily the man had “collapsed and passed away”. It is believed the death was due to a medical incident, possibly a cardiac arrest, but the coroner is yet to determine a cause of death.

The incident is not being treated as suspicious.

Australia Post employee Chris Nitschke, who was working on the site at the time, described the incident as “disgusting”.

“One of the truck drivers came in at about 1.30am, started unloading crates of parcels from the back of a truck and had a heart attack,” he wrote in a public Facebook post.

“People were wondering why he wasn’t doing his job and unloading, and found him dead in the back of the truck.”

Mr Nitschke said the man was “dragged out and put on the ground”, surrounded by witches hats and covered with a blanket.

“Employees kept on working around his dead body until 6am when the undertakers came,” he wrote.

“If it was our superior who had a heart attack and died, the whole place would be shut down, but ’cause he is just a bloody hard working, struggling-to-make-ends-meet truck driver, no one cares.

“Come on, what’s this world we live in… shame on them.”

An Australia Post spokesman said the company had encouraged employees to access its free, confidential Employee Assistance Program for support.

“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to the contractor’s family and friends,” he said.

“We can confirm none of our employees were forced to work yesterday morning as this very sad situation unfolded. All proper processes were followed and Police were involved immediately. “

Australia Post refused to provide The New Daily with a comment on the record confirming whether employees were asked to leave the scene or relocated.

The Northern Star reported that the site remained operational and that the body was not removed until about 6am or 7am.