Why do doors on houses tend to open into the house, but doors on public buildings tend to open outward?

Verbonica

Private homes need to have the door hinge mechanism on the inside so nobody can remove the door from the outside for security purposes. Unlike a private home, a public building is likely to have large numbers of people in it. In case of fire or other emergency, these people need to be evacuated as quickly and easily as possible. When a mob of people rushes an exit, it's very hard for somebody to open the door inward -- everyone pushes up against the door, and there is no room for it to open. http://home.howstuffworks.com/question584.htm Jul 21 07, 12:48 AM

lanfranco

On more than one occasion, inward-opening doors in public buildings have resulted in major tragedies. Here's one famous example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire Jul 21 07, 7:22 AM