Wenatchee’s Diamond Foundry In Compliance After Safety Fine

Wenatchee diamond manufacturer Diamond Foundry Inc. is in compliance with state safety requirements after having to pay a $12,000 penalty.

The company received five safety violations in August from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, including three serious violations.

Serious violation must be deemed to exist in a workplace if there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a condition which exists, according to the Safety & Health Core Rules, as adopted under the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act of 1973.

Diamond Foundry was fined $6,000 for not having a completed written energy control program and not having written documentation of energy control procedures in place.

It was fined another $6,000 for failing to train employees on an energy control program.

The other two non-serious violations did not carry fines.

San Francisco based Diamond Foundry began operations in Wenatchee in 2019 out of the old Stemilt Growers warehouse on Hawley Street.

The company makes lab-created diamonds using what it calls single-crystal diamond wafers, which is a component that's also used to manufacture electric cars and wireless communication chips.

The process consumes an unusually high level of electricity.

Lab created diamond forego the need to mine for natural stones, which comes with environmental consequences.

The company was praised by Governor Jay Inslee's office during his visit to the foundry last month as having technological advances allowing it "to use less energy to grow diamonds above ground than it takes to extract them from underground while producing ethically sourced diamonds."

According to the Department of Labor and Industries, all of Diamond Foundry’s violations have since been corrected and the $12,000 in penalties has been paid.