System doesn't utilize backspace, home or DEL for users unless you delete .inputrc from their dir and log out. root works fine out of the box. Delete that file and normal behavior of keys. Root is not affected by this by default since he/she doesn't have an inputrc file installed by default.
This is the normal documented behavior (see the readline(3) man page). If the user's home directory includes a .inputrc file, it must include a line such as: $include /etc/inputrc to cause the system-wide inputrc to be read. For this reason, there is no default /etc/skel/.inputrc file supplied with RHL 6.2.