Background In the Netherlands each year 30 children aged 0–4 years die, as result of unintentional injuries in or around the home. Additionally 57 000 children are medically treated, of which 46 000 children at the emergency room of a hospital. In order to reduce these numbers, parents' child safety behaviour is promoted. The aim of this study is to assess demographic correlates of parents' child safety behaviour.

Methods Parents with a 7.5-month-old child, who were part of a sample of 30 Dutch child health clinics, urban and rural, were invited by their preventive healthcare provider to participate in the study. Parents fill in a questionnaire on either paper or through the Internet. Parents were informed that the study was about home safety and the prevention of injuries.

The questionnaire contains items on pregnancy, birth, gender, ethnicity of the child and the parents, educational level of the parents, household and family composition, safety measures taken, determinants of safety behaviour on safety topics, like falling, poisoning, drowning and burning. Sum-scores for safety behaviour will be calculated.

Results Preliminary results (n=132 parents) show that 91.7% of participants are mothers, 50.0% have at least one stair gate and 78.0% of children are exposed to unsafe storage of poisonings.

Conclusion The results of this study will provide information about parents' child safety behaviour which will be used to improve health education to parents of young children.