Umm, no, just no.

That heater should have been installed to one side of the recept for a start.
I really "like" the idea of that cord running over the top of the heater, where, umm, all the HEAT comes out.

Electric work is so simple isn't it?

Is it a requirement in the US to use high-temperature flexible cord into a heating appliance?

Don't think that Romex is going to fly somehow.

No, Mike. High temp flexible cord would not be required in this instance. This installation is just wrong, period.

Romex is fine, but it generally has to be in the wall...

This instal brings up an issue that I often have with lighting installs: how do YOU do it?

I often see a tail of wire just poking through a hole, into the back of the appliance.

While I like the idea of a box in the wall, there are the challenges of placing that box exactly where it needs to meet the appliance, as well as attaching the appliance to the box.

Otherwise ... as for this particular picture ...
I have such a heater, that came factory equipped with a cord and plug. Certainly preferable to having the cable work its' way through a hole next to the box!

Our code - as ridiculously specific as it can sometimes be - relies upon the clearance requirements that are part of the product listing to ban receptacles over such units. I've posted pictures here of installations where there were receptacles in the block walls about a foot above the heaters - while not a good situation, one would have a hard time documenting a violation.

This is certainly an interesting oversight; the code seems to assume that no one would be so silly as to place a receptacle above a heater at all, and allows for receptacles to be built into the heaters themselves.

Relevant code sections are 210.52 and 424.

I suppose this would apply insofar as the lovely wire coming straight out of the wall into the heater arrangement.

424.10 Special Permission. Fixed electric space-heating
equipment and systems installed by methods other than
covered by this article shall be permitted only by special
permission.

No specific prohibition for having an outlet directly over a space heater, I suppose, except for the common sense "What on Earth are you thinking?" prohibition.

I can't find it right now but there used to be a prohibition about receptacles over electric baseboard heaters. Really don't think it would have been deleted.

210.52 had this entry in the online 'draft' of the NEC 2008:

"Permanently installed electric baseboard heaters equipped with factory-installed receptacle outlets or outlets provided as a separate assembly by the manufacturer shall be permitted as the required outlet or outlets for the wall space utilized by such permanently installed heaters. Such receptacle outlets shall not be connected to the heater circuits.
FPN: Listed baseboard heaters include instructions that may not permit their installation below receptacle outlets."

I am not sure what 'FPN' means, but I assume it is a footnote of some kind.

FPN = fine print note.

Ah! Thanks.