It’s not just that your lock won’t work if there’s no power but most of these seem to be battery powered, so you face this issue every few months. In case of a power outage or dead battery, is it better to be locked out or better to prioritize people’s safety

While “fail safe” sounds bad that your door is now unlocked, remember that it’s only on a power outage or dead battery, depending on configuration. It’s not like a thief can really plan for it, especially if it means planning for you to have a dead battery. It’s up to you how long it stays like this before you replace the battery, and it really should be a very small percentage of time. It’s not as bad as it first seems