A company, person, or corporation, owning or operating as a common carrier or otherwise a steam railroad or railway in the state, is liable in damages to an employee suffering injury while engaged in that employment; or, in case of death of the employee, to the personal representative for the benefit of the surviving spouse and children of the employee; and if none, then to the employee’s parents; and if none, then to the next of kin dependent upon the employee, for injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of the officers, agents, or employees of the employer, or by reason of a defect or insufficiency in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment due to the employer’s negligence.