This comes up because of a tragic accident with some folks I know. The elderly grandmother, 88 was at home with her granddaughter, the granddaughter's three young children and the granddaughter's boyfriend. The boyfriend had just spoken to grandma then went into the room with his gal when they heard an awful sound. Grandma had fallen down the basement stairs to the concrete floor below. The boyfriend ran down to check on grandma but she was fatally injured. What happened was the door to the basement stairs opened into the stairwell and the latch was defective and failed to hold when grandma was walking down the hallway holding onto the walls to steady herself. When she put her weight against the door, it sprang open and she fell through it and down the stairs. It seems to me that most basement doors I've seen open out and not into the stairwell. I don't know if there is a home-building code regarding this or not but anyone building a house should consider the safety of a door which opens into a stairwell. O_o
TDD