When four-year-old Darcey Freeman's body was pulled out of Melbourne's Yarra River — after she was thrown off a bridge by her father — an Age journalist was one of the first at the scene.

Key points: A Victorian judge awarded $180,000 in damages to a former Age journalist

A Victorian judge awarded $180,000 in damages to a former Age journalist She was a crime and Supreme Court reporter between 2003 and 2013

She was a crime and Supreme Court reporter between 2003 and 2013 In a world first, the judge ruled The Age was responsible for the journalist's PTSD because it failed to provide a safe workplace

The former crime reporter remembers it as the "worst day of [her] life".

She saw ambulance officers performing CPR, unsuccessfully, and the outline of a small body being loaded into the back of an ambulance.

Later, she told everyone in the newsroom: "I'm done, I can't do this anymore. I have had enough of death and destruction."

She took a voluntary redundancy in 2013, but by then her mental health had deteriorated.

In February, the former journalist — known only as YZ — was awarded $180,000 in damages for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In a legal world first, the court found the newspaper was responsible for her PTSD because it failed to provide a safe workplace.

The ruling could have far-reaching implications for newsrooms, and force them to consider what duty of care they owe employees when it comes to traumatic events and mental health.

'Day in, day out'

Darcey's murder in 2009 was certainly not the first crime scene YZ had reported on.

She attended the scenes of more than 30 murders during her 10-year career with The Age.

YZ also reported on a number of gangland-related crimes, and as a result found herself on the receiving end of threatening phone calls.

Other assignments required YZ to cover Supreme Court cases, suicides, fatal car accidents, natural disasters including the Black Saturday bushfires, and grieving families.

YZ and her legal team argued the repeated exposure to traumatic events led to the deterioration of her mental health.

"Her sleep became affected, her personality became affected. She needed to seek medical treatment," her lawyer, Bree Knoester, says.

"She tried to cope with it as best she could privately, but it caused parts of her personal life, sadly, to unravel."

A legal world first

It's not the first time a journalist has sued their employer for PTSD — but it's the first successful case, not only in Australia, but the world.

"An earlier PTSD case against The Age, involving a different journalist, went the other way at trial, in large part because the judge felt the reporter's psychological injuries were incurred during a period when news executives didn't know as much as we know now," says Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.

"I'm aware of other journalist occupational PTSD cases around the world, but usually they get settled out of court.

"A few years ago for instance, there was a case in Switzerland involving a war photographer which nearly went to trial, but it was settled at the last minute."

YZ worked as a reporter for The Age between 2003 and 2013. ( Getty: Scott Barbour )

In YZ's case, the judge ruled The Age breached its duty of care, and failed to meet her needs in terms of providing psychological support.

"The court found that the response [from The Age] was wholly inadequate," Ms Knoester says.

"A witness from The Age said that from 2002, he knew of the risk to journalists of suffering a psychological injury because of the trauma they experienced.

"He very much wanted to implement change, but due to financial reasons and restraints, that wasn't prioritised."

During the trial, other colleagues gave evidence that, despite raising their concerns with senior managers at the newspaper about difficulties YZ was experiencing, there was a distinct lack of response.

"She herself spoke directly to managers about her own experience and her need for support," Ms Knoester says.

Particularly damning, her lawyer says, was the fact YZ was put into a Supreme Court reporting role in 2010, even after actively arguing against it.

"She said on three occasions, 'I don't want to do that, and you know why', and it was ultimately pressed upon her that she must," Ms Knoester says.

What this means for media outlets

Does YZ's case set a precedent for other media outlets across Australia?

"It's just one case, in one jurisdiction, and may still be appealed against. So it's important not to overstate the legal weight of [the] finding," Mr Shapiro says.

"But the YZ case does show, very clearly, that a journalist PTSD case can be won. That is enormously significant, both within Australia and for news organisations globally.

"Scientific, evidence-based studies about trauma and resilience in news professionals have been accumulating for nearly 20 years.

"So this ruling is a wake-up call.

"It says that news executives have enough information to be legally responsible for providing journalists with trauma-awareness training and support."

But social norms might yet prevent workers from taking legal action, even in documented cases of psychological injury.

"There are high-profile journalists with severe PTSD who have spoken about their own injury and how they've come back to work. But have they gone on to sue their employer for negligence? No," Ms Knoester says.

She thinks there's a "general reluctance" around these kind of claims because, "there's a stigma associated with litigating against your employer".

"Whilst there are probably people who have accepted workers compensation claims and they might be privately receiving their medical expenses paid for and the like, this is different. This is a negligence claim," she says.

"This is where we're saying to the employer: 'You were negligent, and this is what caused my injury. We're seeking compensation above and beyond our medical expenses'."

What can employers do to create a safe workplace?

It's not just about providing short-term counselling.

"It's about having an environment in which everyone is trained in recognising symptoms, in recognising the risk that their work poses," Ms Knoester says.

Traumatic experiences at work can affect everyone differently. ( Getty: Chris Madden )

Warning signs of PTSD can be highly individualised, says Petra Skeffington, a clinical psychologist and senior lecturer at Murdoch University.

But, she says, there are some common themes, including having trouble sleeping, having trouble concentrating, and being irritable, hyper-vigilant, or highly attentive.

"There are also avoidance symptoms," she says. "A common example for paramedics is if they've been called to an intersection and they've seen a number of fatalities there, they might avoid that intersection completely."

The trouble, Dr Skeffington says, is that some professions are better equipped than others at managing workplace psychological injury.

"What we see is that in areas like the military, fire and ambulance services … the cumulative toll is quite well-documented, because we know they're being exposed to traumatic events," she says.

"But in relation to other professions, it's less so."

Ms Knoester agrees.

"There's been an unexplainable lack of recognition that media organisations have to protect their staff, just like the police protect their police officers who go to these same scenes … that crime reporters go to," she says.

"The police and the ambulance and similar emergency services are trauma aware. But the media has not taken on that responsibility."

Dr Skeffington says in addition to being trauma aware, workplaces must provide adequate support services.

Confidential professional services are vital, she says, as is support from peers.

"It's important to note that while not everyone will be affected by workplace trauma, it doesn't mean that they have some inherent weakness if they [are]," she says.

"The cumulative toll is different for every individual … but support can be very effective."