DJC wrote:

The problem with steps immediately in front of the door is the danger
that, without being able to see the step until the door is open, someone
exiting in a hurry will not see the step and fall.

I take the point but doesn't it also (if perhaps not quite equally) apply to
a hurried exit from an inward-opening door?

I think - especially after having to do so in today's high winds - that I'd
place the awkwardness and potential hazards of opening an outward door while
moving backwards down the adjacent steps outside as a considerably bigger
problem.