EZSMART Corporation, ESA/ECRA #7012690 , North York , Ontario
Mon-Fri 08:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Electrical cords are one of the most commonly overlooked hazards in homes with young children. Infants and toddlers chew on cords, wrap them around their necks, and pull on them — bringing hot beverages, heavy appliances, and lamps crashing down. The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) in Ontario identifies cord-related electrical injuries in children as preventable with the right combination of physical barriers and household changes. Childproofing electrical cords is not a single product purchase — it is a set of choices that work together to eliminate the hazard at its source.
The goal is to eliminate cord accessibility — either by hiding cords completely, shortening them so there is no excess to grab, or routing them through physical channels that a child cannot easily dislodge or chew. No single solution covers every cord type or room layout, so a systematic room-by-room approach works better than purchasing a collection of products without a plan.
Electrical cords present three distinct hazards to children, and each requires a different countermeasure:
The most effective cord childproofing measure is using cords that are the right length for the application. A device that sits 30 centimetres from an outlet does not need a 1.8-metre cord. Excess cord length creates loops and slack that children can grab.
Rigid cord covers (also called cable raceways or cord concealers) are PVC or ABS channels that mount along baseboards or walls and enclose cords completely. A child who encounters a cord raceway does not see a cord — they see a plastic channel attached to the wall. The cord inside is inaccessible for chewing and the channel itself is not a toppling hazard.
Cord raceways are available in paintable finishes and can be matched to wall or baseboard colour. They are effective for long runs — a television and media centre setup, a home office with multiple devices, or a standing lamp routed to an outlet. The channel must be secured properly to the wall; adhesive-backed raceways that are not additionally fastened can be pulled off by determined toddlers.
Do not route cords under rugs as an alternative to cord covers. A cord under a rug is concealed but not protected — weight from foot traffic and furniture abrades the insulation, and the cord cannot dissipate heat normally. See our guide on whether it is safe to cover an electrical cord with a rug — this is a fire hazard as well as an inspection barrier.
A cord management box is a ventilated plastic enclosure sized to contain a power bar and its excess cords. The devices connected to the power bar pass through openings in the box; the power bar, excess cord, and the wall plug are hidden inside. A child who interacts with a cord management box encounters a plastic box, not a power bar with open outlets or a tangle of cords.
Verify that any cord management box you use has adequate ventilation. Enclosing a power bar that is running near its current capacity in an unventilated box creates the same heat retention problem as covering a cord with a rug — the power bar cannot dissipate heat normally, and failure temperatures are reached faster. See our guide on why power strips catch on fire for the specific loading thresholds at which thermal failure becomes likely.
The Ontario Electrical Safety Code (OESC) requires tamper-resistant (TR) receptacles in all new residential construction and in renovation work that involves outlet replacement in specified locations. A tamper-resistant receptacle has spring-loaded shutters that block the insertion of foreign objects unless equal simultaneous pressure is applied to both slots — as occurs when inserting a plug, but not when a child inserts a single foreign object into one slot.
The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) endorses tamper-resistant receptacles as a meaningful safety upgrade for homes with young children where outlets were installed before TR requirements were in force. Replacing standard outlets with tamper-resistant receptacles requires working inside the electrical box and must be done correctly to remain safe — if you are not familiar with outlet wiring, have an ESA-licensed electrician do the replacement. Outlet covers (the plastic plugs that insert into unused outlets) are not recommended as a substitute — they are a choking hazard if removed and lost, and children can remove them.
The single most impactful cord childproofing upgrade we recommend for homes with young children is installing additional outlets where they are needed rather than relying on extension cords and power bars. Every extension cord in a room is a cord that a child can interact with. If your living room has one outlet behind the television and another at the opposite wall, and you have a child who crawls, you have extension cords running across the room floor — and no amount of cord covers fully eliminates the hazard the way eliminating the cord does. Adding outlets in the right locations costs a few hundred dollars per location and removes the hazard permanently. It also removes the phone charging in bed temptation that comes from not having an outlet near where people sleep. We regularly assess homes for families expecting a first child — a single walkthrough produces a prioritized list of outlet additions that replaces every extension cord in the home. The cost is typically less than a year of replacing frayed extension cords.
Want additional outlets installed to eliminate extension cords before a new arrival? Our ESA-certified electricians serve the GTA. Call us at 416-838-9006 or visit our contact page — we will get back to you the same day.
Electrician Since 2008 Journeyman Electrician Designated Master Electrician at EZSMART Corp
