Aim To explore knowledge and reported safety practices of parents of preschool children in relation to thermal injuries.

Background In the UK, unintentional injury is an important cause of death and leading cause of Emergency Department attendance and hospital admissions in 1–4 year olds. The burden of injury is highest for children who live in poverty. Children's Centres provide community-based co-ordinated services, information and support for families with preschool children.

Methods 200 structured interviews will take place in Children's Centres with parents of preschool children (10 parents at 5 Children's Centres in 4 Study Centres: Bristol, Nottingham, Norwich, Newcastle). Interviews will cover: fire-safety practices for example, smoke alarm ownership and use, risk factors for injury (smokers in the household), knowledge of first-aid.

Results Results will describe fire-safety practices and contribute to the design of a randomised controlled trial of an Injury Prevention Briefing for fire-related injuries to be implemented in Children's Centres, and will provide detailed information about fire safety and data to inform sample size calculations.

Conclusions The Keeping Children Safe at Home programme aims to develop a better understanding of how to prevent unintentional injuries in preschool children. It aims to apply this knowledge, working with Children's Centres to implement effective approaches with families served by the Centres. The findings of the interview study will inform the development of Injury Prevention Briefings which will be implemented and evaluated in Children's Centres.