What is a Risk Trigger (Trigger Condition)?
A risk trigger is the observable warning sign that a risk is about to occur or has begun — the tripwire that activates the planned response. Every serious risk register entry carries one: not just "supplier may fail" but "supplier misses two consecutive weekly shipments" — specific, watchable, and assigned to someone who's actually watching.
Triggers are what turn contingency plans from shelf-ware into machinery: a plan with no trigger fires on someone's gut feeling, which means late or never.
Worked example
Risk: the façade subcontractor may become insolvent. Trigger conditions on the register: payment-bond inquiry from their bank, key staff departures, or a missed interim milestone. In month 9, two site supervisors quit in a week — the trigger fires, the response (pre-qualified replacement, stepped-up material escrow) executes calmly, and when the firm folds in month 11, the project loses four days instead of four months.