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A comment on Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used? by milesvp on Saturday November 27, 2021 @08:37AM (#29360042)
In the US this is a fire code issue. Doors need to swing inward to avoid people getting trapped inside from outside obstructions.

edit: I seem to be misinformed about firecode. I may also be over extrapolating from what I know about bedroom doors as well. The general idea of obstruction is more valid there. It seems the more common reason bathrooms would not be allowed to swing outward is obstructing the minimum width of hallways.

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Re:Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used? by an_ko on Saturday November 27, 2021 @08:43AM (#29360089)
Huh. In Finland, fire code requires that external doors swing outward. It's intended to make it faster to exit the building since you can just walk forward, and to prevent people getting trapped indoors if a panicked crowd tries to push out through the door.
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Re:Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used? by fredophile on Saturday November 27, 2021 @10:18AM (#29360795)
I believe the post above was only meant to be applied to interior doors. The explanation I've gotten in the past is interior doors open in so they don't block people outside the room, typically in a hallway, from being able to move towards the exit; Exterior doors open out so that the crowd of people rushing towards the exit can leave and you don't have a mass of panicked people stopping those at the front from having room to open the exterior doors.
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Re:Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used? by JensRantil on Friday December 10, 2021 @03:43AM (#29507789)
Same in Sweden.
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Re:Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used? by reportingsjr on Saturday November 27, 2021 @08:54AM (#29360144)
Not sure where you picked this up, but I don't think it is correct.

From the 2018 international building code (which is what the US building code is based on): https://up.codes/viewer/illinois/ibc-2018/chapter/10/means-o...

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Re:Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used? by iudqnolq on Saturday November 27, 2021 @01:36PM (#29362293)
FYI the international building code has a deceptive name. It's essentially the US building code.

> it is the International Building Code ... used in multiple locations worldwide, including the 15 countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), Jamaica, and Georgia. Furthermore, the IBC has served as the basis for legislative building codes in Mexico, Abu Dhabi, and Haiti, among other places.

https://blog.ansi.org/?p=8429

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