Secondary Risk

Project management has many aspects, including risk management. Risk management is essentially the defining of risks to a specific project and the planning of the measures or actions needed to eliminate or to cope with those risks. Project management is never complete without a specific list of potential risks that could affect the project. This list is very important in project management and should not be considered complete until it is taken a step further to contemplate and plan for secondary risks. A secondary risk can be defined as a risk created by the response to another risk. In other words, the secondary risk is a consequence of dealing with the original risk. A simple way to look at this is to think of project management as a chess game in which one has to think as many moves ahead as possible. One has to consider the reaction to the reaction, or in other words, the consequences that could arise from dealing with a problem or risk. Secondary risks are generally not as severe or significant as primary risks, but can become so if not anticipated and planned for appropriately.

This term is defined in the 3rd and the 4th edition of the PMBOK.