Plug inserts vs sliding outlet covers: are plug covers necessary, and are they a choking hazard?

What each one is

A plug insert is a two-prong plastic plug with no wire that fills the slots of an empty outlet. It costs pennies, takes seconds, and comes out with a fingernail, which Safety 1st's own listing describes as a feature: reusable and easy for adults to remove. A sliding outlet cover is a replacement wall plate with a spring shutter over each socket; you slide the shutter aside to plug in, and it closes on its own when the plug is pulled. It costs a few dollars, takes one screw, and has no part that comes off. Both do the same thing to an empty outlet, which is to keep a fork out of it. Whether the outlet needs either, given the tamper-resistant receptacles the code has required since 2008, is the question in are outlet covers necessary.

Side by side

The choking question

An insert in the outlet is not a choking hazard. An insert out of the outlet is a small, hard, smooth object that fits in a mouth, and inserts come out: adults pull them to plug in a vacuum and set them on the floor, and toddlers learn to pry them, which is why makers compete on how tight they are and why Baby Proof Me ships a removal tool. The CPSC's childproofing guidance has long noted that outlet plugs can be a choking hazard if a child removes them and recommends covers that stay attached. That is the argument for the sliding plate in one sentence: it cannot be on the floor. Tight inserts with a removal tool narrow the gap; they do not close it.

Where each one belongs

Sliding plates go on the outlets in the rooms the child lives in: the nursery, the living room, the hallway at crawling height. Inserts go on the outlets that are never used (behind the dresser, the spare room) and on outlets that already carry the TR mark, where the insert is a visual reminder and the shutters are doing the work. Inserts also go in the travel bag, because you cannot swap plates in a hotel. Outlets with something plugged in get neither; they get a box, ranked in best outlet covers for plugs in use. The plates on their own are ranked in best sliding outlet covers.

Choose inserts if / choose sliding covers if

• Choose inserts if the outlet is unused, already TR, or in a place you do not control (a hotel, a rental for a week, the grandparents').
• Choose sliding covers if the outlet is in a room the child uses daily, gets plugged and unplugged, and you want to stop thinking about it.
• Choose the receptacle if you can wire; the full comparison is tamper-resistant outlets vs outlet covers.