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Another option in use around here require the user to break glass before being able to use the door; as with fire alarms, having to break something has been proven extremely effective in deterring misuse, accidental or unintentional use of things like fire exits.

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Often emergency doors need to open in situations like dim lighting and a crush/stampede of people behind you, which makes it hard to create a safe implementation for whoever happens to be at the front.

In the safest implementations, the person doesn't even need to know they are about to break something by pushing the bar... But puts us back at square one except with more maintenance headaches.

Red scotch tape over door handle is much easier to apply or replace.

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