Impact

When a System Meant to Heal Causes Harm

Workers’ compensation systems were created to ensure that when someone is injured at work, they can access medical treatment and income support while they recover.

Over time, these systems have evolved into complex frameworks operating at the intersection of health, law, insurance and government policy.

Shattered explores what happens when systems designed to support recovery begin to shape the experience of injury itself — and asks how they can be redesigned to restore care, dignity and trust.

ABOUT THE ISSUE

A System Designed to Heal

Workers’ compensation exists in many countries around the world.

It was created to ensure injured workers could receive treatment and financial support while they recover, protecting families from sudden financial hardship after workplace injury.

But over time, these systems have developed into complex structures operating between healthcare, insurance, regulation and politics.

Decisions about recovery can involve multiple institutions beyond the consulting room.

A Changing Pattern of Workplace Harm

The nature of workplace injury is changing.

While physical safety has improved in many industries, psychological injury is rising across modern economies.

Psychological injuries often involve:

● longer recovery periods
● greater uncertainty in treatment
● complex return-to-work pathways
● higher levels of dispute

Recovery from psychological injury depends heavily on stability, trust and supportive environments.

When recovery occurs inside complex administrative systems, those conditions can become harder to maintain.

The System Around the Patient

When someone is injured at work, they do not enter a medical system alone.

Recovery takes place within a broader ecosystem that may include:

● Employers
● Doctors and therapists
● Insurance companies
● Regulators
● Government agencies

Each plays an important role in managing treatment, work capacity, compensation and dispute resolution.

But the interaction between these institutions can shape the experience of recovery in profound ways.

WHY THIS FILM MATTERS NOW

Workers’ compensation systems were largely designed more than a century ago, when workplace injuries were primarily physical and industrial work looked very different.

Today:

● work environments are more complex
● psychological injury is increasing
● recovery pathways are longer and more uncertain
● administrative systems have become more structured and regulated

These changes raise an important question:

Can systems designed in another era still support healing in the world of modern work?

Shattered explores this question through lived experience, expert insight and the voices of those navigating the system today.

Because when someone is injured at work, what happens next should support healing — not make recovery harder.

IMPACT VISION

To realign workers’ compensation systems with their original purpose:

treatment, recovery and family stability.

To ensure that when someone is injured at work, they remain first and foremost a patient in need of care.

To ensure the system itself is psychosocially safe for those navigating recovery.

To strengthen transparency and accountability so that systemic failures are identified early and unnecessary harm is prevented.

Because a system designed to heal must never become a source of further injury.

PRINCIPLES FOR SYSTEM REFORM

Patients First

Injured workers are first & foremost patients requiring medical care and recovery support.
Treatment pathways should remain grounded in clinical judgement and patient wellbeing.

Psychosocial Safety

Recovery systems must themselves be psychosocially safe environments, recognising that prolonged stress, uncertainty and adversarial processes can delay healing.

Respect for Lived Experience

The voices of injured people must be heard and respected, and access to supportive patient communities recognised as an important part of recovery.

Transparency and Accountability

Because workers’ compensation operates within financial frameworks, transparent oversight of decisions and outcomes is essential to identify failures early and prevent avoidable harm.

Shared Responsibility for Recovery

Workers’ compensation systems function across a complex ecosystem of employers, insurers, regulators, clinicians and injured people.

Constructive dialogue across this ecosystem helps rebuild trust and ensures that recovery remains the central objective.

TAKE ACTION

You can support the impact of Shattered by helping bring the conversation about recovery, care and system design to wider audiences.

Ways to get involved include:

● hosting community or workplace screenings
● participating in professional and policy discussions
● supporting educational screenings for healthcare and legal communities
● contributing to research and reform conversations

Together we can help ensure systems designed to support recovery truly serve the people who rely on them.