Railroad worker injuries are covered under the Federal Employees Liability Act which requires that a railroad maintains their fleet, ensuring that their trains are in good working order and free of defects. If a railroad does not comply with these standards, they may be liable for injuries to their workers. Damages railroad workers may receive include medical treatments, present and future lost wages and mental trauma. An injury on the railway can range from a minor sprain to a spinal injury so severe that it leads to death. Some of the most common injuries that affect railway workers are head trauma, knee injuries, back injuries, neck injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, brain trauma or spinal cord injuries. The Federal Employees Liability Act protects railroad workers and others as diverse as clerical employees whose day-to-day functions do not directly involve trains or outdoor activity.
Hilham is an unincorporated community in Overton County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The community is centered around the junction of Tennessee State Route 136 (which runs north-to-south) and Tennessee State Route 85 (which runs east-to-west). Although not a census-designated place, Hilham is part of a Zip Code Tabulation Area (38568) that covers most of rural northwest Overton County. As of the 2000 census, the population of this entire area was less than 2000. Hilham was established in 1797 by an idealistic Dartmouth graduate named Moses Fisk (1759-1840), who believed the site was the geographic center of the United States (at the time, the Mississippi River was still the nation's western boundary). Fisk laid out Hilham so that roads radiated out from the center of the community to the north, south, east and west, believing that Hilham would eventually be the ultimate crossroads of the new nation. In 1806, Fisk established one of the first female academies in the southeast at Hilham. The 11,000-acre (45 km) Standing Stone State Park and Forest is located just 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Hilham along TN-136.