Page "Door" Paragraph 40

Inward opening doors are doors that can only be opened ( or forced open ) from outside a building.

Such doors pose a substantial fire risk to occupants of occupied buildings when they are locked.

As such doors can only be forced open from the outside, building occupants would be prevented from escaping.

In commercial and retail situations manufacturers have included in the design a mechanism that allows an inward opening door to be pushed open outwards in the event of an emergency ( which is often a regulatory requirement ).

This is known as a ' breakaway ' feature.

Pushing the door outward at its closed position, through a switch mechanism, disconnects power to the latch and allows the door to swing outward.

Upon returning the door to the closed position, power is restored.