WASHINGTON - Congress is adding its voice to the call for enhanced safety at incinerators where some of the nation's deadliest chemical agents are being destroyed.

In a bill authorizing defense spending, senators approved a "sense of the Congress" provision yesterday that asks the Army to improve chemical monitoring at the incinerator sites. The House had already approved the same request.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., is non-binding but aims to apply more pressure on the Army to invest in such technology as infrared spectrometers, which supporters say can detect a chemical accident far more quickly than the monitors currently in place.

Bunning called the provision "common-sense stuff." That generated no argument from the director of an environmental group that has criticized the incineration proc-ess.

"We are pleased that the Senate has approved this provision and has added its strong voice to the call to better keep workers and citizens safe from these lethal materials," said Craig Williams of Berea, Ky., director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group.

Besides incinerators that had been activated at Anniston, Ala., and near Tooele, Utah, others are being tested near Pine Bluff, Ark., and Hermiston, Ore.

The Army has decided to use chemical neutralization to destroy nerve agents at Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Ky., and at sites in Colorado, Indiana and Maryland.