How to babyproof cords: the pull, the chew, the trip and the one that strangles

Four hazards, four fixes

The pull. A cord over the edge of a table is a handle attached to a lamp, a kettle or a monitor. Fix: shorten, route, anchor. The chew. A cord is a teething ring with 120 volts in it if the insulation gives. Fix: get it off the floor and out of reach. The trip. A cord across a walkway drops an adult carrying a baby. Fix: raceways and routing. The loop. A blind cord forms a noose at a toddler's head height. Fix: cordless coverings. The outlet end of all of this is in best outlet covers for plugs in use.

The pull: shorten, route, anchor

Most cords are three times longer than the distance they cover. Coil the excess and secure it with a reusable tie at the appliance end, not the outlet end, so there is no slack loop on the floor. Route the working length behind furniture, along the baseboard, or through an adhesive raceway (a plastic channel that sticks to the wall; any hardware store sells them by the yard). Where a cord has to cross open floor, it should not; move the lamp. The things at the top of the cord get the same treatment as furniture: a floor lamp that can be pulled over gets a heavy base or goes away, and a TV gets strapped, per how to anchor a TV. The CPSC's no-anchor advice for TVs ends with the same instruction: keep cords out of reach.

The power strip

A power strip on the floor behind the TV is a row of live outlets with six cords coming out of it, at exactly crawling height, and no plug insert fixes it because every socket is in use. The fix is a box: Wappa's is 13.3 inches long, holds a standard six-outlet strip up to 11 inches, and closes with a double lock, with the cords exiting through side ports. Measure your strip; the ones with big adapters or USB blocks often run longer. Then mount the box on the back of the stand or a shelf rather than leaving it on the floor, which gets the cords off the floor too.

Plugs in use

A plug half-pulled from a wall outlet exposes live blades, and a tamper-resistant outlet's shutters do nothing while a plug is in. The in-use box screws over the outlet and locks a lid around the plug; the slim LectraLock does the same behind a sofa where a box will not open. Both are breaker-off installs and both are ranked, with the power-strip box, in best outlet covers for plugs in use. Whether the outlet itself needs anything more is in are outlet covers necessary.

Blind cords are a different hazard

Everything above is about electricity and pulling. Blind cords are about strangulation, and the CPSC treats them as one of the most serious hidden hazards in the home: about nine children under five die every year from window-covering cords, and in 2022 the CPSC made non-compliant cords on custom window coverings a substantial product hazard and adopted a federal standard. The CPSC's advice is cordless coverings. Until you can replace the blinds, wind-ups spool the cord up out of reach, and cribs and beds move away from windows. The full treatment is blind cord safety.

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