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Industry tackling infrastructure risks with new software     (Copyright Thompson’s World Insurance News     Not to be redistributed by individual recipients.)     Canadian p&c insurers are pioneering the development of a web-based scoring mechanism that will provide municipalities with a visual representation of their at-risk zones.     “It will enable them to identify their greatest infrastructure vulnerabilities and plan and build accordingly,” Insurance Bureau of Canada president and ceo Don Forgeron said at the World Conference on Disaster Management in Toronto.     “And it will help our industry better understand and underwrite the risks.”     The program will also help the industry understand the risk of infrastructure failure.     It will collect and analyze key municipal data such as:     The age and design of sewer and surface water systems;     The maintenance and operation of those systems;     The urban development policies that influence system capacity, and     Topographical features like elevation and soil type which affect risk and vary broadly within large urban centres.     “Currently, nothing like this program exists, he said. “We are breaking new ground.”     The bureau is planning to pilot the program in 10 to 15 municipalities across Canada and is aiming to launch it for wide-spread use in 2012.     More in our June 21 2010 edition        Thompson’s World Insurance News P.O. Box 1027,  Waterloo, Ontario,  Canada  N2J 4S1 Tel: 519-579-2500 Fax: 519-745-7321 mpub@sympatico.ca THOMPSON’S WORLD INSURANCE NEWS , Canada’s only independent weekly for p&c insurance professionals, has been the industry’s most trusted news source since 1988.