The risk register states that excavation may cause subsidence and damage nearby historic buildings.

The correct answer is D . PRINCE2 distinguishes between the risk owner and the risk action owner . The risk owner is responsible for managing, monitoring, and controlling an assigned risk, including ensuring that an appropriate response is established. A risk action owner is responsible for carrying out a specific agreed response action.

In the scenario, the project executive may legitimately be assigned ownership if that allocation is appropriate to the nature and significance of the risk. However, the response consists of operational activities—surveying buildings and monitoring vibration—that will actually be performed by specialists. Naming the project manager as the sole action owner merely because the project manager coordinates project delivery does not accurately allocate responsibility for implementing those specific actions.

Option A therefore overstates the requirement for the project manager to own every response action. Option B focuses only on seniority and potential effect on business justification, rather than addressing the inappropriate action ownership. Option C is incorrect because PRINCE2 does not require the risk owner and risk action owner to be the same person.

Clear allocation matters because it establishes precisely who monitors the overall exposure and who is accountable for implementing each agreed response action.

PRINCE2 7 reference topics: Risk practice; risk owner; risk action owner; risk responses; ownership and accountability; risk register.

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