The optimised placement of reclosers on a distribution network is known to improve the reliability of a power system. Furthermore, the protection settings on distribution systems rely heavily on the number and placement of such reclosers. This study examined the effect of using protection settings methodology with the placement of reclosers to ameliorate the damage sustained during faults on a distribution network. The aim of the study was to determine whether this ‘damage control factor’ should be a future consideration for recloser placement. It has been found that the determination of the number and placement of reclosers, which are the function of the energy exposure of feeder, helped to optimise the operation and reliability of a distribution network. This could benefit both energy users and energy suppliers, who often face different challenges during the fault levels on the network.