Law firm expands campaign to keep Wisconsin residents safe

Milwaukee-based Warshafsky Law Firm, which specializes in personal injury cases, has launched a campaign to encourage business owners and Wisconsin residents to avoid winter slips and falls by applying sand, to provide more traction, in addition to traditional salting techniques.
“The ‘Spread the Sand’ campaign is an extension of our Safer Wisconsin campaign that we’ve been promoting all year to make things safer for people,” said Frank Crivello, partner at Warshafsky Law. “It seems somewhat counterintuitive that a law firm would promote a campaign like this because a successful campaign would reduce the number of their potential clients, but for years we’ve seen so many people catastrophically injured because of negligence that could have been prevented. From a human standpoint, it’s impossible not to be effected by that.”
According to Warshafsky the idea behind the campaign is to encourage more businesses and residents to use sand on their slippery side walks in addition to applying salt.
“What we have found is that many businesses and residents do apply salt regularly to their walks and driveways,” Crivello said. “What they may not realize is that when the temperature dips into the teens and single digits, salt becomes ineffective.”
Average temperatures throughout January and February in Wisconsin are around 16 degrees, Crivello said.
The campaign leverages social media avenues like Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter to let residents write in and post where there are slippery spots throughout the city. Warshafsky Law firm will send each business a safety kit which includes a bag of sand to help reduce or eliminate the slippery spots, and a safety sheet with tips on maintaining a safe environment.
“We aren’t trying to discourage or attack businesses in anyway,” he said. “In fact, we encourage business owners to commit to maintaining a safe environment and ‘Spread the Sand’ themselves.”
Any consumer or business who either reports a slippery spot or pledges its commitment to safety will be eligible to win a $1000 Funjet Vacation package to a warm climate location, Crivello said.
The law firm will randomly select one participant for the vacation packages at the end of the campaign.
Warshafsky Law did a similar Safe Wisconsin campaign during the Halloween holiday that targeted drunk driving. Consumers were encouraged to share their stories about how drunk driving has effected their lives, and were encouraged to call a designated number on Halloween to receive a ride home from the law firm.
According to Crivello, the ‘Spread the Sand’ campaign is off to a good start with more consumers and businesses communicating with the firm by phone or email. Consumers or businesses wanting to report slippery spots or pledge their commitment can visit www.spreadthesand.com to do so, he said.