Telstra fixed and data access engineering director, David Piltz, this week said his 22 recommendations following the fire investigation had been implemented at the Koroit Street exchange, and at sites around the country.

The restored Warrnambool site has now consolidated equipment into fewer rooms by removing redundant technology and making room for future equipment, such as NBN servers. Fire hazards have been reduced using thermal imaging, which detected cabling at risk of overheating or faults with electrical wiring.

Building, safety and smoke alarm reviews have been undertaken at the site to detect and reduce potential risks, while an override button on the main switchboard was installed for Telstra’s stand-by generators. Businesses affected by the outage can lodge compensation claims by November 22.